The Locket
by Mara93
Summary: One beautiful object ties together the lives of many, in the present...and the past. Why is its return so vital? What is its story? How did it affect a love always destined, and forever forbidden? Nathan, Haley, and more...
1. Chapter 1

**_*~*The Locket*~*_**

This story is another fanfic challenge that I received. The idea came from** Janet**. I will post that idea with a future part.

This story is _very_ AU by her request. It's very far from the show's premise for reasons that will become clear soon. It includes some original characters to in key parts.

I disclaim as usual. Any original characters are my creation, possibly based on the show.

**Rating**: (M for possible future scenes, for now it's mostly T though)

**Ally** made me an amazing, beautiful banner for this story that you're welcome to see at my homepage. I just request that you read the story in order before looking at the banner. It's a bit spoilerish so it's not revealed until after the first few parts.

This is an NH story, but for now it may not feel totally like one. Please give it time, NH are on the way.

___And for now…let's travel backward in time. ____It's the fall of 1923. A woman enters an antique shop in a small town in Maryland…_

**_*~*Part I…The Find*~*_**

"Can I help you Miss?"

She heard the voice as she walked into the small antique store, the door letting off a ringing of bells as it opened and closed. She didn't answer right away, starting her search simply. She doubted it would turn up anything. Every time it was the same.

___Six years now and…nothing._

Seeing the man shuffling around impatiently, she finally answered him. "No thank you, I'm fine for the moment."

She perused the store, seeing an old quilt on a white peeling painted rocking chair, a drum from the Civil War era probably, the outside canvas of it displaying an actual bullet hole. On a shelf there was a floral decorated pitcher and basin, 1880's it looked like.

She continued to walk around, away from the glass case that stood at the front. She didn't want to go there too soon. That man kept just standing there anyway. She wished he would go and help someone or maybe straighten up a shelf somewhere.

"Sir, may I see that doll please?"

___Ah, perfect._ She watched as finally the man left his counter, to go help a woman look at a doll in a gingham dress.

Walking quickly, but unassumingly, she headed for the glass case. She searched it. There were many pieces there, but not really-

"Ah, fine gold work we have. Very fine."

___Great, he was back. Couldn't that woman have needed his help for longer?_

"Take this piece, see how thick the chain is."

She nodded her head, not at all taken in. She wanted to look alone, but she supposed she would have to deal with him. "Yes, it's very nice."

"Fine piece this one. And see that price? That's a bargain."

She nearly rolled her eyes at his obvious salesman tactics. ___It wasn't that great._

"And how about this one? This cameo would look splendid with what you're wearing."

She shook her head, trying to be polite. The man was annoying her though. It got terrible bothersome to keep doing this. Store after store, antique stores, pawn shops, even estate sales, and to keep coming up with ___absolutely nothing__._

She idly watched a little girl move over to a bargain bin. _Antique bargain bin, ha._ The little girl leafed through a bunch of things, pieces of cloth, an old china doll with a dress dirtied, a wooden horse with a broken leg…

___Junk indeed._

She sighed, thinking she might as well just leave, wouldn't find anything here. She had made her decision to depart when the man interrupted her thoughts again.

"Now take this brooch…see that fine pearl in the middle, very nice piece this one…_rich_. I will sell it to you for a deal of a price. Yes, I will combine it with this neck-

She wasn't paying attention. The little girl's upturning of the bargain bin had started to bring an old picture frame, stand broken, to the top, and a shiny piece shaped like a-

"Yes, I'll sell the two of them to you together for-

"Excuse me." She approached the little girl right now. "Are you going to buy that?"

The little girl, who had been told many times not to talk to strangers, but barely ever listened, stuck out her tongue. "Maybe, and if I do it's none of your business."

She raised her eyebrows at that. Whoever _Mother and Father_ were, they needed to figure out how to better discipline this child.

"Mary Sue! I have told you a thousand times never to talk to strangers! Now put that down!"

"But I like this Mother…it's pretty!"

"That thing…it's a piece of _junk_! Put it down. We're going now! Come on!" The woman glared at her like she had tried to kidnap the little girl, uh, _Mary Sue_, and flung the shiny piece back into the bin.

"Oh now Miss…that's just the junk. You won't need any of that. Come…I have a good deal for you here."

She stared at it for what seemed like forever, _just stared_. It couldn't be. It couldn't. ___In a junk pile?_

She raised it out of the bin with shaking fingers, remembering the directions she had been given about it. She knew she would have to check the back…to see if _it_ was there.

"Miss…"

She started to turn it over, closing her eyes as she did so. It couldn't be. It couldn't be this easy. _Easy?_ It had taken her six years to find _it_, if this was it, state after state, town after town. Store after store. Business after business.

___If this was it…_

She turned it over and saw…

One burn mark marring the back bottom part of it. A nearly indistinguishable dent up in the corner.

___OH GOODNESS…_

She reached for the opening. It was weak. The chain looked like it had been fixed…

"Miss…Miss…"

___"I'll take this."_ She closed it up, lifted it in her hands gently and brought it to the counter. "I'll take this…right now. How much? It was in the bargain bin."

The store owner scrutinized her sharply, before he gave her his price.

She opened her mouth in shock at the ridiculous sum. "_Surely it can't be that much!_ It was in the bargain bin!" _Money swindler_, he must have seen her attachment to it.

"That was a mistake. This _fine_ piece…Victorian era I believe it is…late Victorian era."

She frowned. "More like _mid_. Fine…I'll take it."

"I can add in another piece and give you a discount."

"No thank you."

"But we have-

"___SIR_ I said, no thank you. I will take just this piece."

"We accept only cash."

She frowned. This was more like being in a pawn shop than an antique one. The man was a total crook. But there was no way she was letting it go.

"Fine…will _this_ suffice?"

She nearly laughed as the man ogled the large bills she put in front of his face.

"Shall I wrap it? Will it be a gift? We have a good discount on-

She cut him off, waving her hand in dismissal. "No thank you. No wrapping needed."

"But surely with the Christmas season com-

"Sir, it is not a gift." ___More a return._

"Very well then."

She watched as the man took her money and then gave her a bag with _it_ inside it. She looked at him for a moment, smiling courteously, but shortly. "Thank you."

"Yes…yes come back and-

She didn't hear what he said. She had already let the door close, the ringing bells that hung on it jingling with the motion. Walking down the walkway in front of the store, past the parked Newest Ford models, past the gentlemen and ladies enjoying their lunch time, she came to a corner. Looking around suspiciously…she finally opened the bag.

Her eyes closed as she held the object in her hand. She found it. ___She found it!_

Looking around again, she lifted her head a little, whispering,

___"I got it Mama…I got it...I promised you I would."__ A tear fell down her face. ____"Now I just have to find… ____Them..."_

**_*~*The Locket*~*_**

This is part II. The third part will have the full details of Janet's idea.

*~*One Year Later, An office building in a town in North Carolina*~*

_***~***____**Part II…The Return**__***~***_

She stopped nervously outside the door, just staring. _What if it was another failure?_ What if? _Ah…what if…what if! Enough Chelsea! Just go in there and deal with it._ She fixed her dress, making sure it was proper enough for the current circumstance. Sure, flapper girl was the style these days, but not exactly what you wore for this type of thing. Of course…this type of thing really wasn't going to be _this type of thing_ because it was another _thing_ that really had nothing to do with this type of thin-

_Ahhh! Blabbing to herself in her mind. Enough, enough enough._ She straightened the skirt part of her dark navy blue dress and opened the door to the office. She was greeted by the sound of a typewriter, the keys noisily moving along, ended all by a dinging bell, _ding, ding, ding_. She walked forward, being careful not to trip in her new heels. ___Heels…new heels. Had to buy new heels for this, right Chelsea? Had to come all properly prepared even though you may end up being here no longer than a few moments before the gentleman throws you out._

"Can I help you Ma'am?"

Chelsea looked up from her perusal of her shiny new black shoes, _heels_, to see the lady who had busily been typing at that typewriter, now sitting there calmly, not typing, with a questioning, and yet helpful expression on her face. She cleared her throat, speaking to the past middle aged woman. "Um…oh…excuse me. Yes, my name is Chelsea Rider. I'm here to see…um Mr. Scott about the interview. The um…the job interview. The one he was advertising in the paper." ___Okay, now just stop. If you babble anymore this woman will tell him you can barely even communicate a single word without stuttering and he'll make up some excuse to not see you, a clever one of course, and then you'll not meet the gentleman and you'll have to look elsewhere…_

"Oh yes…you must be his 10:30…"

Chelsea moved back a blonde tress from her face, her hair still not in the revered short flapper style that was all the rage now in the big city of Manhattan that she lived in. She just _refused_ to cut her hair that short. _To the chin…please!_ Of course, here it didn't matter as much she supposed, here in the south where things were not quite as advanced, for most, as up north. Sure, the Civil War had been over for many years, but that stigma, some believed, could remain forever, that hidden stigma. Still, the town, though a bit small, seemed to be nicely advancing. And it was definitely pretty, shaded with big beautiful trees even in some of the more town-like areas. It was a nice respite from a big city like Manhattan. And those shading trees were something very much in need. It could get so hot here.

"Right there Miss Rider."

Chelsea ended her long thought pattern and looked at the woman who was now just staring at her questioningly…like she was waiting. With her hair in a bun, the woman definitely did not have that new flapper style look.

"Excuse me?" Chelsea asked, now totally broken out of her reverie and just mildly confused. Had the woman said something to her before…something she missed?

The woman smiled. "I said Miss Rider, will you please have a seat over there? I will let Mr. Scott know you are here, and I'm sure he will be with you shortly. Please feel free to peruse one of the magazines as you are waiting."

Chelsea nodded her head, feeling like a total ding dong. She started to back up, and then realizing she was acting even more like a ding dong, properly started to make her way to the cushioned seats. "Oh yes…of course. No rush at all."

The woman nodded her head with a lift of one eyebrow, but then left the room. Chelsea cringed. ___What is wrong with you? You handle stories for the newspaper all the time in Manhattan, undercover stories, everything. Why can't you handle this?_

She took it out discreetly, staring at it for a moment, before covertly putting it away again.

___Oh yes…that's why._

I***~***I

The woman walked into the back office, his office, spacious mostly and yet cluttered in some areas and way too sparse in others. Noticing that he was busy writing something, she waited.

Feeling her presence, knowing she was _waiting_ for him to acknowledge her, a slight smirk came to his face. Mrs. Nealson was one of the best secretaries he ever had. She was punctual, cordial, and a magnificent typist. _But goodness sakes, would she ever learn to interrupt him?_ It was okay. He didn't mind. Yes…yes, many bosses minded, but he didn't. _Interrupt him._ Once she had waited so long that the phone had rang in the outer office five times before he noticed her standing there. Okay, maybe that was his fault. He was constantly working on something, work, work, work.

Not that he didn't enjoy his work. He did. He gazed fondly at something behind his desk before he finally directed his attention to Mrs. Nealson.

"Yes Mrs. Nealson?"

"Your 10:30 appointment is here Mr. Scott."

He looked at her questioningly, deep lines on his forehead forming.

"My 10:30…uh…?"

Mrs. Nealson smiled. He was so busy all the time. He tended to forget his appointment schedule easily.

"Yes Mr. Scott, for the job interview…the one for the new file clerk."

He slapped a hand down on his desk with sudden recognition. "Ah yes…that appointment. Oh good. And the name?"

"Her name is Chelsea Rider, sir."

He smiled, liking the name right away. That was good…right…liking the name? Yes, he supposed so. "Ah…send her in please Mrs. Nealson." He got up, fixing his suit jacket.

"Now sir?"

___No, in an hour so we bore the poor woman. Oh Mrs. Nealson__…_ "Yes, please, ___now_."

"Very well sir."

___Sir…sir…Mrs. Nealson, call me by my name…oh no that is not proper Mr. Scott…but Mrs. Nealson…no no…fine__._ It had made him decisive in calling her by _her last name too_. Thought that might make her a bit uncomfortable. Oh no…not ___Mrs. Proper Nealson_.

Chelsea nervously walked into the office, trying to look like she wasn't nervous at all. She got ready to meet another balding man, or one with whiskers hanging down his face, but this man…_oh there were no whiskers here_. She stared for a moment before she chastised herself. ___Enough__._

And then she suddenly realized the man seemed deep in thought too. _Hmmm_…interesting, not at all focused on her. She searched his features for a moment. He was tall and slender, though had some noticeable upper build. His hair was cut short mostly to his face, sideburns hanging down not too low. It was mostly dark brown, but mixed in were specks of what looked like cinnamon. All that didn't stay with her that long though. What got to her right away were the eyes, _amazing_ clear blue eyes that were now sharply looking at her. She blushed.

He saw her blush and realized suddenly he was improperly staring. He shook his head and politely extended his hand to her. "Miss Rider…I'm Mr. Scott…Halen Scott."

Chelsea forced her hand to come out, feeling him grasp it in his much bigger one, with firmness. She liked that, when a man's hand was firm, but not over-grasping. His was firm, but definitely not over-grasping, almost gentle in a way. She felt a rush of color hit her face again and looked away for one tiny moment before finally answering him. "It's very nice to meet you Mr. Scott. Please…call me Chelsea…it's my name. You can call me that…if you'd like anyway."

Halen searched the woman's face for a moment before his eyes perused down a bit lower, before he moved his eyes back up. _This was an interview Halen, not a proposition._ Damn the sometimes stupid wild time of the 20's making people act in that oh _so 'scandalous' way_. Okay, he usually laughed at that term, but right now…well…

In his perusal, he had noticed her hair, blonde and curled on the ends, not short to the chin like quite a few women annoyingly wore now, but closer to her shoulders, adorning it. The curls were pulled back in a large barrette, keeping her hair mostly away from her face, though it still flattered her. The tresses went well with her green emerald-like eyes. And in her hand was a folder of some sorts.

___Folder. ____She's here for a job interview, remember Halen?_

He saw the woman blush and inwardly scoffed at how forward this woman probably thought he was being. No wonder she blushed. "Please Miss Rider, sit down." He gestured for her to sit in a black chair that sat across from his desk. He sat down slowly too in his own, noticing the small lift of her proper navy blue skirted dress. ___Nice legs.____Okay…okay…just stop now. You're acting like a high school teenager. You're 34 years old for God's sake__._ Never been married. Never wanted to be married. Well not yet anyway. When you grew up with the perfection of love, you spent time seeking the same for yourself. So far…hadn't found it.

___And so far this interview he was supposed to be conducting was going splendidly horrible._

"Halen…that's a very original name." _Okay Chelsea, you were supposed to say that after a few job related sentences. Not right at the beginning. Bing bang. Here I go…getting all personal. Gracious._ She put her head down, feeling incredibly foolish.

Halen saw what looked like a bit of nervousness on the woman's face, the sentence coming from her mouth surprising him a bit, but he took it as he had probably made her so anxious she would blurt out _anything_. That's what you got for staring too long at your interviewee. "Yes I suppose it is. It came from my mother's name."

"And what would that name be?" _Shut up! What was that? What would that name be? Gosh!_ Chelsea held on tightly to her purse, running her hand nervously over the black leather, over a pocketed area that held _it_.

Halen looked at the woman curiously now, his eyebrows raised. She was definitely inquisitive...and outspoken a bit.

Chelsea shook her head, her blonde curls moving a bit at her shoulders. "I'm so sorry. That was rude of me. I'm being rude. I'm very sorry Mr. Sco-

She stopped as suddenly she felt his hand come over hers to cease her babbling. She shivered at that hand before she pulled away. _Okay, but it wasn't a bad shiver. That was a good shiver…a kind of trembling fun little shiver. OH stop. This is an interview, but you're not here for that. Yes…but you're also not here for that._ She turned to look out the window, noticing a new make of the T Model Ford, so popular now.

"Haley…my mother's name that is."

Chelsea focused back on his face at his sudden unexpected answer, seeing those _oh so gorgeous blue eyes_ looking right into hers. ___Okay…whoa…Chelsea, you are a dignified 29 year old woman who lives in the cream of the crop, Manhattan. There is no reason for your insides to turn to jelly as this very good looking man stares at you. He's not staring…wait…wait. Haley. Haley?_

"Would you like to know my father's name too?"

She looked up to see a slight smile on his face, more a smirk. She looked down from it and then heard him laugh. She felt herself laughing slightly too. "Oh my gosh…I'm so sorry. You must think I'm a nut! No…your father's name is your business. Oh dear."

He liked the sound of her laughter. It was rich, and had bits of lyrical quality…reminding him of the laughter of someone he loved dearly. He bit down on his bottom lip slightly. "It's all right. Why don't we start this again? I'm Halen Scott. And you're…"

Chelsea smiled, feeling a warmth creep through her nervousness. His smile was delightful. "I'm Chelsea Rider."

Halen smiled a little more, before letting her hand go, for the second time. _Had to shake that hand again, right Halen? Learned from the best._ "It's very nice to meet you Miss Rider. Now…why don't we begin with the interview? Tell me your experience in file clerking."

"Uh…" Chelsea started to relate her _fake_ experience, hoping it sounded real enough. It seemed to.

They kept going like that, him asking her professional questions now, and she answering them. And it seemed to be going very well until he suddenly came to the one he was asking her now.

___"Uh…excuse me?"_

Halen watched Chelsea sharply now. She had answered every question with a well found knowledge of the task. ___But something…something just…_

He had inherited from his parents, his mother notably, a keen eye for knowing when someone was not being completely forthcoming. And of course the paper just happened to be sitting on his mess of a desk, a paper that just five minutes ago he had noticed was marked with a name that went hand in hand with the woman sitting across from him. "_I said_…when did you decide to give up headline stories in of all places New York City for…file clerking in a small town in North Carolina?"

Chelsea started to protest, but then stopped as the paper was put down in front of her. She looked at the headline, the name of the writer, _"By Chelsea Rider"_ Idiot. You shouldn't have used your own name. You _never_ use your own name. _Why did you use your own name now?_ Because she wanted to hear it from his lips. _OH stop! You had no idea who he would be, what he would be like before this interview. You blew it. You should have used one of your pseudo names._ Well how was I supposed to know the man read papers from New York? ___Everyone_reads New York papers, especially___The New York Times__, _geesh_._

She tried to make something up but saw that with his sharp look he probably wouldn't buy it.

"So care to tell me what this is about Miss Rider? _I don't like being played for a fool._ I'd like a reason for your visit before I ask Mrs. Nealson to extricate you from my office."

Chelsea grimaced now, seeing the tightness and total departure of friendliness, or cordiality even, from his face. She turned away, looking up for a moment at the picture that hung over his desk. "Nathan…is it Nathan? Your father's name?"

Halen's look grew sharper and more serious. He turned to where Chelsea was looking and then spoke in a firmer and direct voice. He wanted to get to the bottom of this right now. _"____Why are you here Miss Rider__?"_

She got ready to give another story, but seeing his hard edged determination in finding the truth, and realizing now what she had known inside from the first moment she met this man, she slowly reached into her purse.

Halen watched the woman's movements carefully, before he let out a gasp at what came out of the purse, clenched in one of her hands, the chain falling over her wrist. He grabbed at that wrist, feeling the chain against his skin. It felt warm…full of life. ___"Where did you get this?"_

She saw the demanding that followed the shock in his face, and _knew_ it now. _He was the one._ Well…he was the one to lead her to them anyway…hopefully.

She gently moved his hand away from hers, pulling back slightly. "My Mama…_excuse me…_my mother…"

Halen felt a pang at her first term for her mother. ___Mama…_

"…gave it to me…before she died. She took ill several years ago."

His face blank mostly, Halen spoke softly. ___"I'm sorry."_

Chelsea looked up at him for a moment, hearing his voice…ever so gentle. She went on. "She told me to find the person to whom it belonged…the persons. She said that she saw them only once, but one thing was clear right away. ___It transfixed her__._"

Halen looked away for a moment, thoughts now swimming through his mind. ___"Their love."_

Chelsea nodded her head, seeing passion in the man's profile. All the hints of smirking were gone. "They were…your parents?"

Halen looked down at the object in the woman's hand, felt her let it loosen a little in her grip. Quietly, slowly, he lifted it into his own. He closed his eyes for a second, whispering. ___"Yes…they are. My father has searched for this for years…to give it back to her."_

"Then they're still ali-

He cut her off suddenly, pointing at her with the object still in his hand. "What do you want for it? I'm sure you came here for some monetary-

She shook her head quickly, her expression a bit pained. "No…no. I came to _give it back_. I just…I've searched and searched for them and now…finally. I guess I've found them. You'll give it to them?"

Halen looked off distantly, nodding his head, before his sharp blue eyes focused on her emerald green ones again. "Yes…but there must be something else? Come on now."

Chelsea got ready to turn away, to walk away, and forget the object she had returned to him, but then she remembered her mother's last words. "She searched for them, for years, my mother. She couldn't find them. She tried and tried. She told me about it…about them. I told her I would find it…___them_."

Halen searched her face intensely. "_How did you find it?_ My father's never been successful…try after try…place after place."

Chelsea shook her head before going on. "It wasn't easy. It took me seven years really…six to find it. One to find you. I just kept going back and forth from Scott to Scott. It's a popular name."

"So you've been doing this interview thing for a while…this story of yours?"

She saw him give her a mischievous look. She smiled slightly. "Yes…well with variations. When I saw you though…the picture…your name…I knew I had to finally…have found the right person. Well…now I know they'll get it." Hesitating for a moment, seeing him not trying to stop her at all, Chelsea started to get up to say goodbye. She didn't want to just leave it, but-

_"Where did you find it?"_ Halen asked her softly now, motioning for her to return her attention to him.

Chelsea debated if she should tell him the truth or not, before she decided to just give it to him straight, the way it was. "In an antique shop…in Maryland."

Halen's eyebrows rose. "Maryland…it traveled that far?"

Chelsea nodded her head. "Yes…apparently it did. It was actually in some junk heap of discount antiques. I only saw it because some bratty little girl was searching through the thing."

_"Junk heap?"_ Halen frowned.

Chelsea watched as he held it in his hands now. She watched him turn it over in his fingers. "You know about it? The burn mark…the dent?"

Closing his eyes for a moment, before shaking himself out of his reverie and sitting up straighter, Halen simply nodded his head before answering. ___"Yes…I know."_

Seeing him deep in thought, Chelsea decided it was best to leave. _She returned it._ She did what she promised her Mama. ___Now…_

Halen stirred as he suddenly realized she was going, leaving, after finding it, after bringing it back to him…to them. He couldn't just…

"Miss Rider…"

Chelsea turned back around at his voice. She quietly smiled. "Chelsea…please…"

Halen smiled back, slightly. "Fine. Chelsea…Really, I can't…I can't just take this without…I mean there must be some way I can repay you."

Chelsea shook her head, bringing it down, before she whispered, ___"No just…my Mama always wished that she'd see them again. She just wanted to know more about it…about them. That's all."_

Halen's expression was wistful. But he said nothing.

"Well I better go."

___"Wait…Miss Rider…"_

"Please…"

"Chelsea."

She didn't bother to turn around, just answered him. "Yes…Mr. Scott."

He sighed, reaching for her arm and gently turning her around. "Halen…please. I mean you brought back to me something…something I thought was lost forever…that my father…"

She saw pain cross over his face. It made her tentatively reach out a hand to him. It mingled with the chain of the locket, their fingers touching it and each other.

"He has always wanted to give this back to my mother…___always…__"_

She felt a tear edging at the back of her eye, but she pushed it back. ___"Well now he can…"_

He said nothing at first, before he nodded his head. "Yes."

She slowly slid her hand away from his, the link of their fingers parting. _"I'm glad I could return it to you."_ She answered softly, before she started to go.

"There's a story that goes with it. Would…would you like to hear it…___Chelsea__?_"

Slowly she turned back around. The tear crossed over her face. "My Mama always wanted to…to know…"

He moved over to her, gently touching her wrist, politely, not at all assumingly. "Can you come back later, this afternoon? Afterwards…___I'll take you to see them.__"_

Chelsea gasped, a smile lighting her face. "Oh I would like that…a lot…Mr…um…Halen."

"Good. Until later."

She felt him grasp her hand for a moment, the hand that was holding it in his half grip. She could feel the chain brush over her skin, warm. "Yes…later."

Halen watched her leave and then sat back down slowly in his office chair. His fingers moved over the object he delicately held now. It could be a fake. It could be a fraud.

He closed his eyes. _It wasn't. It was real._ Chelsea's story was too real…and even more practically, it had all the _scar marks_ it should and yet…he could feel from it _the love_ his parents brought. He could feel from it…

All the stories of the past…

All the stories of long ago..

The story of their love.

Their sacrifice for love.

___A forbidden love._

I*~*I

More to come…

Thank you for reading. Feedback is appreciated.


	2. Chapter 2

**_*~*The Locket*~*_**

Thank you for the feedback, putting this story on alert/ fave lists. I appreciate it all. It's great to have some new readers along with some old ones too. Thank you very much!

Okay, now I can reveal **Janet's** idea.

If it wasn't clear before also, Halen is Nathan and Haley's son. When I picked his name I wanted one that sounded either like Haley and Nathan's name. It sounds more like Haley's, but I think it has a touch of Nathan's in it too. It was fun giving him some of the quirks of both his parents.

Janet's Idea:

___Your Name: Janet __  
____Genre: Romance/Drama/Angst __  
____Rating: Any __  
____Season/Time frame: None, make this AU... 1800s or so __  
____Reference to episode: none __  
____Must include the phrase: "All this time I loved you but I never knew your face" __  
____Additional requirements: I love period pieces and honestly, we don't see enough in the OTH verse so I'm requesting one specifically. You don't have to be historically accurate but nothing too glaring... like Haley using a cell phone or something. I'd like this mostly to be a romance piece dealing with social class issues... forbidden love, if you will. One specific scene, I'd like to ask for is a dance... a huge ball held in someone's honor and for N/H to dance._

So per Janet's request, this story is about forbidden love and deals with one heavy social issue of the time, along with some others touched upon. And of course…a dance, ball, of some sort will come in a future part.

This is historical fanfiction. I have done a lot of research for this story to keep it in line with the history of this time. I will of course make mistakes though and sometimes I may take liberties. I'll try to keep it to small things though. I enjoy keeping this as accurate as possible…with no cell phones! lol

You may skip this part if you like. I don't want to insult anyone, but I do want to bring you into the times of this story. So here we go…Pass by it to the part heading if you feel like.

Okay, I need all readers to forget much of modern times. Let's go back to the Victorian Times and beyond. It's a time of no cell phones, but there are some of the first telephones (invented 1876), no CD players, just phonographs (invented in the 1870's). The telegraph has been invented, popular during the civil war. Transportation is by horse and carriage, horse alone, or foot. Fireplaces are how people keep warm for the most part. For entertainment you play an instrument, sing, or read a book. There is no internet, no TV, no I-pod, no email etc. Mail actually is by pony express or messenger, and it's slow compared to today. Mass transit…well you take the railroad. Roads are of dirt. There are no malls. Most towns have the little county store that stocks up on just about everything you need, and maybe a few other shops. What doesn't come from the store, you can send away for from Sears Roebuck catalog. Got light? The electric light bulb has been invented, but not all houses have it, so those who don't have this luxury, receive illumination from kerosene lamps and lanterns. Not even basketball has been invented…though…it's coming. For now athletics are still relatively new, but they're gaining in popularity. Baseball is popular after the Civil War soldiers playing it as a break from the fighting.

The Civil War is in the past…but in the south…it still has a lasting effect. Only some years before this story starts, the northern troops left the south. Years before that, North Carolina will be accepted back into the union. The effects of war will be there for a while, burned down plantations, holes in the land. Most who farm now are not successful, with their big plantations a thing of the past. The time of factories and industrialization is growing. Those who adapt to that well are most likely doing well. Those who don't…are in a poorer state. The Civil War has left the south divided much more than before. There are those who are poor…and those who are much better off. Overall, the south is not seen as prosperous as the north. It breeds bits of resentment still between the two previous sides. School is something not seen as terribly important by many. Kids only attend about four months out of the year. It won't be until the 1900's when the school year will be expanded to nine months in North Carolina.

There is no bro's over ho's, lol. The language in this story will reflect a different time, as much as I can be accurate with that. I might mess up sometimes. But I'll do my best to show a time years before…when women wore dresses primarily and men wore suits. Children helped their parents with the chores and work. Some families were wealthy in large Victorian homes, while others lived a harsh life in small homes in need of repair. The upper class didn't really associate with the lower class, or if they did, it was with a subservient attitude. The term middle class was one yet to be studied and primarily used. You were either poor or rich, little in between.

This is a time when a woman was a _lady_…a man was a _gentleman_.

He protected her.

She respected him.

And yet…dark secrets prevailed. Ugly facts occurred that made this time be labeled _the gilded age_. A lot of the new inventions, mentioned above, could be found in houses of the wealthy, but not in the homes of the poor. Medicine was advancing, but yet again, those who were rich were able to get the better medical care, while those who were poor, couldn't handle the costs of travel nor the doctor fees. While some prospered enormously, others suffered, even the most innocent. The poor and rich weren't meant to meet and join together, unless it happened to do with charity, philanthropy.

___But two people broke that rule. _

___They fell in love._

___And now the continuation, the true beginning, of the story of… _

___*~____*The Locket*~* _

___A story of injustice being fought… _

___Of deep dark secrets… _

___Of a young man coming to age… _

___Of a young woman persevering… _

___Of unexpected friendships… _

___Lost family… _

___Family found… _

___Of helpers… _

___Of crooks… _

___A story of two people and their fight for love… _

___Their sacrifice for it…_

___***~*North Carolina, Tree Hill, 1880*~***_

___***~*Part III…The Meeting*~***_

It was said that a Cherokee named this place. A Cherokee Indian a long time ago before they were told to move westward, before the settlers came, starting their farms, turning them into large plantations. A wise old Cherokee Indian, the story went, came up here one day, looked over the lush land, and said for its abundance of trees, it should be named Tree Hill.

Haley Rebekah James smiled as she finished her climb. _That was the story anyway._ There was also talk that that was a bunch of hogwash. One thing was for certain though. Tree Hill sure was mighty pretty. And it sure had a bunch of trees. It was of course basically the top of a hill, but it was more too if you preferred to extend its boundaries further, which she did. Winding down below, it formed into valleys. That lower part had white laced sycamore bark trees, so white, the bark so thin, that if you were careful enough, you could peel it off and use it to make multitude sorts of things. Combined with them were the graceful stately oaks. She loved so much to wrap her arms around the rough bark and feel it prick at her face. It didn't hurt, just sort of tickled. In between them all were the lazy dogwoods, pretty white flowers tipped with little points of purple. Their petals were like hearts that didn't quite make that inward crease, and their leaf stems were full and wondrous green. Travel up away from the valleys, as she was doing now, and you came to North Carolina's southern pines, from which hung long brown colored pine cones. She liked to collect the pine cones sometimes and make things out of them. It didn't cost anything to make things from nature. And that was good.

Her brown shoes, made of thick leather, but now not so good of wear, too worn from work, slapped over the fallen pine needles, making little pancaking sounds. It disturbed her none as she walked more into the trees. She liked when she was surrounded by them, all the large pines towering over her. She could pretend she was a princess being protected by her fortress of trees. She laughed now at her thoughts. Silly they were. But Mama always told her _pretend was okay as long as you remembered to come back to reality sometime_. She always did. It was important to come back to reality. Mama needed help.

Mama worked so hard. The thought made her smile fade a little. Her small fingers reached up for an object that surrounded her throat. The chain tangled with her fingers, before those fingers met the object that hung at the chain's end. A pretty book shaped locket. It was the most beautiful thing she owned. It was precious. It was even worth some money because it came before…

Before…

_Before the war, before Papa went away._

She missed her Papa. She looked down at the locket now, opening it carefully. It was worn, sadly. It could use some fixing. The chain sometimes came off so she had a piece of heavy rope there holding it together. Of course though sometimes that rope, more like tough string, came undone. And she would have to watch for that so she could catch it in her hands before it fell to the ground. She didn't like Papa's gift to fall to the earth. She felt safest when it was touching her heart, when she could feel its warmth. ___It reminded her so much of her Papa's hugs._

After Papa went away, after the war, the weird war that made it that they weren't even a state anymore…so strange. North Carolina like the other southern states left what was called the union. It departed and when it came back in it never felt normal again. It was just…weird.

Now they were becoming a state again, originally the 12th state to join the union. She knew that well. She was proud of that. She learned it in school and from all the books she read.

She liked school and books, even though most of the books were old and the teachers were few. School was interesting and they taught a lot of good things. Those few teachers were nice and seemed to understand most the time when a child missed school because they had obligations at home. There were a lot of kids who didn't even go to school, helped on the family farms instead or worked in other ways. None of the kids she knew had much money, and so earning it was really important to a lot of families, getting enough to be able to eat.

Some days _she_ had to miss school. Mama did everything she could though to make those days few. Mama always told her she was smart like her Papa and that it was important she go to school. She could see Mama's sadness the days she had to ask her to stay home because she needed help with the chores, needed her to go into town to do an errand, because that day she was feeling a little sicker.. It was hard for her too the days when she couldn't go to school. But she didn't complain. _Oh no._ She had to help Mama. And she could always read about things in her books. She had a few of them at home. Her nice teachers had given her some as gifts.

Mama worked in the mill. A bunch of them started up after the war.

She didn't remember it, the war. She was not even alive during it. She only saw what effect it had later. At first it hadn't been too bad. Papa and Mama did quite well. They bought her all kinds of pretty things and they had this beautiful piano that stood in the front room. Papa had liked playing the piano. So good at it he was and he could sing too. When she was a little girl she would sit on her Papa's lap and he would play with her, interlacing their fingers so she could learn the keys too. They'd even sing together. Papa said she was a pretty singer, the _prettiest_ he ever heard. She had liked hearing that from Papa, but mostly she had just liked sitting on his lap.

But then Papa got sick. Years ago the war had hurt him, but it didn't start to cause him to be ill until right before he went away. It made her sad then. She cried and cried. Soon there was no time for crying though. Things changed after Papa went away to that place in the clouds, that place Mama told her was _Heaven_. The money disappeared. They had to get rid of a lot of things, put so much up to sale. Worst of all, she could remember the day they had to sell the piano, that piano she and Papa had played together, she hugged it so tight with her arms, stretched them as far as they could go, begging them not to take it. ___Please don't take it. Papa lives in it__._

But it done no good. ___They took it anyway._

But not her locket. _Oh no._ Mama promised her no one would ever take that from her. That was Papa's gift. Mama cried too the day they took the piano, but she promised her.

___No one would ever take her locket from her._

Haley bent down now, picking up a pinecone and weighing it in her hand, finding another one. _Hmmmm_…what pretty thing could she make with these she wondered, before she stepped further, away from the canopy of pines to look out at the land that surrounded Tree Hill.

It was like two different destinations. Tree Hill stood right at the center, beautiful and sweet. Surrounding it, she thought, though were the two ugly places. One was her home now. She looked down at the small worn looking houses in the tiny little valley, not even a town, called _Old Oak_. They weren't too pretty, those small peeling paint houses, though Mama made their home still look pretty. And she helped too. It may not be rich with things, but it was rich in how pretty it was. She liked their home. It was not ugly. She even liked most of the homes around them. Too, she liked the homes on the other side, the part called _New Bern_. Actually, some of them _awed_ her, all tall and graceful, so dignified and prestigious. Those houses she imagined probably had a thousand things in them, maybe even useless things, but things that were oh so beautiful. The homes were all nice. It was the land that surrounded them she thought was ugly, the separation. It wasn't as bad as the division between the former slaves and their old owners who all lost their plantations. But it was still no good.

She didn't get it. What good did it do to treat others as lesser just because they didn't wear as pretty things as you did, just because the money in their pocket caused less jingle jingle.

Why couldn't it be like here on Tree Hill? Here, nothing was separated. All the trees, pines and leafy ones, blended and made such a fantastic picture. Different colors of flowers. All kinds of birds and small squirrels and other tiny creatures. All nature all together and alive. She liked that so much. Nature was such a pretty thing. It wasn't as selfish as some people could be.

She smiled now as she looked down at the pretty pine cones in her hand. _Oh yes…_they would make a nice little decoration, or maybe she could make another bird feeder, or maybe…

That smile still on her face, despite the hard times she and her Mama faced…_did no good to fret over things you can't control_ her Mama always told her, _better to enjoy what you have and laugh a little_, Haley lay down , in between the tall wild grasses that stood in the clearing. She loved this almost as much as walking under the pines because the grasses hid her so well. They made it as if she were not even there at all.

___As if she were invisible._

**I*~*I**

"Okay, Joseph's it!"

Hearing that, he rounded the tall oaks, looking for a good place to hide. "Better not cheat Jo!" He called out first. Joseph Curry was known to cheat at just about every game he played.

"Better find a good place to hide Nate!" Nathan Daniel Scott heard his friend call out with annoyance. He laughed, a slight smirk touching his lips before he went further through the trees, right upon where the sycamores started and then onto the outline of the pines. He ran through the trees quickly, but carelessly too. It was good to be done with school for the day. Fun to just be playing around in…uh…this place called Tree Hill. Yeah, Tree Hill, that's what they called it. The old Cherokee Indian story was what supposedly brought it its name. He frowned. _Hogwash._ No Indian named this place. More like some cheeky first settler making up the story so people would pay him to hear it or whatnot.

Still, Tree Hill, no matter who named it, was the best place to play hide and go seek and right now he was determined to find a good place for his friend to have to seek. He could imagine the others stayed down lower. Maybe a few came up here this far too. He didn't mind going too far. He didn't even mind when they exercised sometimes in school. Kind of liked it. And when they played games with the ball too. That was the best part of school. He knew all the games so well now though. It would be fun to have some new games.

His father even played ball games with him sometimes. His father was big and tough. He had to be. Before the opening of his clothing factory, his father had owned a big farm, a plantation. It was grand and magnificent and all those big words they taught in school, but that he only spent about half his time bothering to learn.

Too boring, school could be a lot of the time. Too much talking and books and all. Half the kids didn't even go regularly. A few didn't come at all. They were schooled at home or didn't even bother with it. They learnt it from their parents or a governess, or they learnt even more importantly the family business, what most of them would probably be taking over anyway. If it wasn't for his mother, he probably would barely go to school. His mother's family was from England and there they were more particular about schooling. She insisted he get an education and so there his father gave in. Insisted though that he would go less when it was time to learn the family business. Then he wouldn't have to go to school so much. More practical important matters would have to be taken care of. He could get away from all the books and writing. Didn't like any of that. Only the small amounts of sports and games they played he liked. Didn't seem that important to have school anyway, considering they only went to it for about four months a year. The rest of the time, he was free.

Free to help his father. He didn't mind that. His father would send him on errands for the factory and give him small chores to do. It wasn't too bad. Didn't last that long. A lot more interesting than school. And he still had plenty of time to go out and play and all.

Before the opening of the factory, before the war, the home his parents had lived in had been surrounded by a big plantation. The war and the fires from it though burnt most it down. That didn't hold his parents back though. They didn't get all _lazy_ like all those people down lower, across the way. They lived in all those small _ugly_ houses because they wanted to moan and sulk, not work, after the war. His father worked and worked, and he made them a good living, and they had a nice house. _Oh they had a fine house._ One of the best houses in New Bern. A real nice house all decorated in front because his mother always made sure it looked good and so did the lady who cleaned for his mother.

For years it would make him frown to see all those troops around too, those troops from the other side, the North. They were gone now though, left about three years ago, leaving reconstruction to all the southern states, like his state, North Carolina. It had made him feel like a prisoner for a while, even though the troops barely were noticeable, barely bothered with anything. He knew for sure his father hadn't liked it. He would ask things like, _w____hen them yanks going to go back to their home? Huh? Making us feel all bad for the war. They had a part in it too. Could have minded their own business…damn billy yanks._

Nathan knew his parents sometimes missed their big plantation farm, but the slavery thing he never understood. He'd not been born until after the war, but he had seen some of them now leaving to the north, or trying hard to make their own lives in the south. Sometimes he felt a little bad for them. Sometimes when he really thought about it, he didn't get what would make people want to _own_ people. But he didn't think about it too much.

He was a kid and it was before he was even born. Not much he could do about it now. Nothing more like that going on now anyway. No, just the south having to feel all bad for the war, having to rebuild and all. It wasn't that bad though. He didn't see all of that destru…uh…destruction that had been in pictures in the papers. Sure, still places that were holes, that needed fixing up again, that shown what the war done, but where he lived it all looked nice again. It all was good again. And that was what mattered.

So what about the lazy ones…too bad for them. Shouldn't be lazy. His father was a good man though. Some of those lazy people even worked for him. They worked in his clothing factory. His father was smart. After the war, people needed clothes, all kinds of clothes, and it wasn't done the way it was before, so his father worked hard and started up his own factory. It was one of the most popular ones in New Bern now. Nathan was proud of that. And he knew one of these days, when he was older, he would be the one in charge. He'd take over for his father.

For now though, it was time to find a good hiding place. He moved through some of the pines, his brown jacket brushing by a few tree branches. He wore it now because it was fall time. The weather was mostly warm, but there were some tiny chills still, as the leaves of the sycamore and oak turned to all kinds of bright colors. He didn't pay those colors much mind though. He wasn't one to stop and look at things. He was like his father, always active.

And his mother? She was pretty. That was one thing. He knew even his friends thought she was pretty. One of the prettiest mothers in New Bern. She always had a well made up face, always had the nicest dresses, always looked good. She went out a lot to make her social calls and all. It was like his father too though, hard at work a lot, going out of town to expand the business. Of course there was always someone with him though. They usually went away at separate times, but if it so happened they went on a trip together, they left him with a lady who was…well she was all right. ___And she was easy to fool._

Nathan smirked now as he left the pine area. It was easy to fool adults a lot. He liked playing pranks sometimes even on the teachers at school. Not bad as long as he didn't get caught. All he did when it was a pretty lady teacher was give her a sweet smile. _Usually worked._ When it was a man, he talked about his father and compared him to the teacher. _They usually liked that._ His father was well known and well liked. He was one of the _non lazy people_ who after the war brought back some uh…prosperity to the south. He gave people jobs and made lots of money. Nathan liked that. It meant at home he had a nice big comfortable bedroom and he got pretty much whatever he wanted.

Some would argue it wasn't as rich as being a person from the north, but didn't matter. The north had poor people too. And they were nothing near to poor. He was rich and he liked it. Meant his parents gave him his best gift of all. One that when he wasn't playing games, like hide and go seek with his friends…he was spending time with.

Nathan debated now, seeing the tall pines standing in back of him, their canopies thick and the perfect hiding place, so perfect though that someone like Jo would probably go searching through first. And on this side were the tall wild grasses. They didn't reach taller than him of course, him being nine years old already, but if he got down in them, well, they would cover him good. And they weren't that far from base either. He could wait till Jo got close enough and then go running for it. He could even holler out when Jo found him and scare the willies out of his friend, get him all startled, and then getting to base would be all smooth sailing.

___Hmmmm…yeah…_

**I*~*I**

Haley stretched her arms out, feeling the tall grasses blowing in the wind against her. She giggled as some of the tall wild grass tickled at her nose. Closing her eyes, she let out a happy sigh, before she opened them again and saw that the sun was down a little lower in the sky now.

It made a small frown come to her face. She should be going home now. Mama would need her to help with getting the water ready for supper and to help prepare the vegetables and everything. She shouldn't be selfish just lying all lazily here in the grass.

But Mama had been the one who sent her up here. Mama did that. Whenever she thought she was not having enough fun, not getting out to play, Mama sent her to do just that, _play_, find pine cones, run through the grass, lay in it. Mama told her that she was only seven years old and a little girl like her had a right to have fun. She would always quietly correct her Mama, saying she wasn't _only_ a little girl anymore. Being seven was a big thing. At school the teacher even asked her to help some of the little kids too, the smaller ones. Whenever she did that, corrected her, her Mama would have to agree with a small laugh.

Haley loved it when Mama laughed. She didn't laugh as much now, well not for as long as she used to. It wasn't that Mama lost her sense of humor. She still had it, more than most adults. It was just that Mama had gotten a little less happy after Papa died, and then after working in the mill so much, Mama started getting sick more sometimes.

She went with her to the mill one time. _She didn't like it there._. It was a big dark place with machines that looked like monsters. She didn't like that place at all, and asked her Mama sometimes why she had to work there. Her Mama would tell her that it was needed for them to have food on their table and clothes to cover themselves, shoes to wear on their feet. That made sense, but still she didn't like that scary mill.

Looking up now, Haley could see the sun was lowering more. Definitely time to go home. She started to reach for her pine cones. She dropped one though. Getting up on her knees in the tall grass, she bent over to get it.

**I*~*I**

He ran down low now in the grass, turned around and backed up quickly, before getting down on his knees and moving rapidly that way too. Looked like the perfect hiding place just a bit yonder there. He moved toward it.

**I*~*I**

___"Ahhh!"_ She cried out as she felt it all of the sudden, something bumping right into her back end, making her tumble down to the grass.

**I*~*I**

___"Whoa!"_ Nathan called out, realizing he hit something. Looking downward, he saw a small girl lying on her side in the grass.

Haley got up quickly, barely noticing the big boy, _not wanting to know the big boy_, just wanting to get away from him. She clutched her pine cones near her heart, and started to run away.

Nathan paid no attention to the girl now, noticing something in the grass, _something shiny_. He started to pick it up.

Haley was halfway to the pines when she felt it…felt that something was missing…it wasn't warming her heart like it did always.

___Her locket!_

Papa's gift, the string had come loose again and the chain had broken once more and she dropped it.

___She dropped it!_

She turned around, seeing the tall grasses, multitudes of them over and over again. _Oh no._ She lost her locket in the tall grasses. _Oh no!_ It would be so hard to find it in there. It could take hours and she didn't have that much time. It would be dark in just an hour and Mama needed her to come help with the chores. Mama would worry about her. But she couldn't leave Papa's gift here on the ground. She couldn't. ___Oh no, what was she going to do?_

He looked at the gold colored object, shiny, except for some dull darker spots. It was pretty neat, pretty neat find. The clasp looked all worn and some stupid string was tied around it, but the book part opened up pretty well and _whoa_, had pictures too. It looked like something his mother wore sometimes. A necklace, but this one was a lot more unusual and a lot more interesting. With a smirk on his face, not even caring about the hide and seek game anymore, he started to put it in his pocket.

___"That's mine."_

The high pitched voice startled him, but he looked up coolly anyway, seeing that small little girl standing over him now, her face determined, and a hand extended as if getting ready to grab at something. He noticed she wore dark tights like most the rest of the girls, except for the ones who wore white ones, but her dress was a dull color and her hair was not all neatly braided like most girls had it, or all neatly pulled back. Instead, strands of it were hanging in front of her face, covering part of her eyes. Looking downward now, he grimaced at her worn shoes. She was one of those. _"What did you say?"_ He asked, tauntingly waving the chained locket necklace now with a mischievous smirk on his face, right in front of her.

She tried to breathe a little more evenly now before she spoke. She had been so afraid she lost it, but then she saw that older boy looking like he had found something in the grass. He had found something all right, her locket. She could see it shining in his hands even from the distance from where she stood. Right then she had come back to him, to get back the gift Papa gave her. Seeing the boy not looking nice at all though now, dressed richly in black pants and a white shirt and brown jacket, she frowned at his taunting question. It made her angry to see him waving Papa's gift that way. "I said _it's mine_. Give it back to me."

He had to admit, she was acting a lot braver than he thought she would. A tiny little thing, smaller than most of the girls at school, probably, younger than him, and yet she wasn't giving up, staring him straight in the eye. He got up slowly, waiting to see her cringe as it became clear how much taller he was than her. A whole head taller. "_Ahh_…that's not very nice. I found it. You should sound grateful."

Haley's face scrunched up some at that. She bit down on her bottom lip nervously, but clenched her fists angrily at the same time. He was making her very sore. She didn't care he was taller than her. Right now all she wanted was her locket. ___"You give it back to me now."_

He smirked once more, dangling the locket still. "_No_…I think I'll keep it. You have no proof it's yours anyway."

"My Papa gave it to me!"

"That ain't proof!"

"Isn't, no such word as ain't!"

The smirk fell flat, replaced by an angry look of annoyance. _Dumb little school girl, dumb little poor school girl trying to make him look bad. Ha._ "Shouldn't be correcting other people…___Peasant Girl__._"

Her eyebrows narrowed crossly at that. _"____My name is not Peasant Girl!"_

He laughed slightly, taunting her with the necklace again, before he slipped it in his pocket. "And now you have no locket either…_Peasant Girl_." He snickered meanly and started to walk away.

___That did it._ He called her Peasant Girl twice. That was bad. But the worst of all was him taking Papa's locket. He couldn't have it. ___He couldn't have it!_

She picked something up from the tall grasses and threw it hard.

_"OW!"_ He hissed out in surprise... and pain as he felt something hit his back…hard. Turning around, looking down, he saw a pinecone. ___"Little Peasant Witch!"_

He started out, but never finished as suddenly that annoying little peasant girl was swinging her arms at him, her fists pounding his chest. "Hey, cut that out!" He tried to grab her fists, but then felt it, a foot come underneath his ankle, and before he knew it, he was tumbled onto his back in the grass with that _little peasant witch_ on top of him.

She thought he was _stupid_ for not figuring out that she would trip him. Now she did everything she could to find her locket, starting to dig through one jacket pocket…

___"Hey, get off me and get out of my pockets!"_ He yelled at her, pushing her tiny little hands away. _She was a girl._ Darn, if she wasn't a girl he would push her away, push her down into the grass and let her have it for going after him like that, but darn. She was no boy. _She was a little girl…_a little girl who was one wild little thing,that was for sure_._ And to top it all off, his head was feeling a bit dizzy still from being tumbled into the grass.

"Hey Nate, what's going on?"

"Whoa! What's that little urchin!"

___"Mmhhhhmmmm…ohhhh…"_ She struggled to push away his hands, finally bringing her teeth down on one of them.

"AHHH!" He screamed in pain, his hand quickly moving upward and ceasing trying to push her away. "You stupid Peasant Girl! You bit me!"

Haley smiled in victory as she felt it, _her locket_, she reached into the alternate pocket and grabbed it, holding on tight. "Got it!"

Her smile didn't last though as suddenly she felt herself being pulled upward. Hands held onto her wrists and brought her to stand. She grimaced as she saw now a bunch of boys, big boys surrounding her. She bit at her bottom lip nervously, trying her best to be brave. They didn't look that scary anyway. _Well not too scary._ And if they were as dumb as the one she made trip, well then.

"Oh well what do we have here?"

"NO!" She yelled as she felt the locket grasped out of her hands again. She tried to grab at the boy's hand who took it, but he suddenly raised her shiny locket, the beautiful present Papa gave her, and threw it high in the sky so it landed in the other boy's hand. She kicked at one, causing the boy to swear and hold his hurt shin.

Nathan smiled at that a little, even though it was one of his friends. ___Little Peasant Girl was pretty tough._

It was only temporary though. They succeeded in getting far away enough from her and yet at the same time sending the locket up higher and higher, way out of her reach. Haley screamed out as they kept passing it back and forth, _higher and higher, further and further_. She tried running from one to the other to get her locket back, but they would just throw it to the next boy when she got too close. If she looked like she was going to kick one, another boy would grab at her to prevent her from doing it. Panting and breathing hard, she fell down to the grass and whimpered. She wasn't hurt, not on the outside, but inside…_inside her heart felt cold_. Papa's locket…they were going to hurt Papa's locket. ___Papa…_

"Give it back to her."

Nathan stood up now. _Little Peasant Girl_ had at first looked like she was about to cry, but it impressed him how she seemed not wanting to let them see it. It bothered him now though…he didn't know why, but it bothered him, the look on her face as they kept throwing her locket and kept it from her, playing a pretty vicious game of keep-away. Her eyes were so big and so sad now. She was sitting there so still, but clutching at…her heart. _It bothered him._ He didn't know why. It just did. Seeing how desperate this little girl was about such a simple thing, a dumb book chain. He shouldn't even care, but hey, she knocked him over, she looked him straight in the eye, and she even reached in his pockets before biting him. At least she hadn't broken the skin, though she left a few teeth marks. Maybe annoying, but for such a tiny little thing, she had spunk. And now…those big eyes…

___Hurt haunted eyes…_

The boys continued to throw their new prize, laughing as Haley half-struggled to get it back, and the rest of the time just sat there, lost, clutching her heart.

___"I said give it back to her!"_ Nathan yelled out now with annoyance, fiercely. _Couldn't watch those haunted eyes no more._ He advanced on his friends, jumped up high and grabbed the chained book locket out of the air as it was in mid-throw. He could hear the little girl panting still…see her clutching her heart…_her haunted eyes_. Feeling kind of bad now, he walked the few steps and handed her back the locket. "Here…"

Haley looked at the boy, at his face, but didn't say anything. Finally grabbing the locket out of his hands, she started to turn around quickly. She needed to go home. _She had her locket back!_ And now all she wanted to do was see Mama. _Now that her heart didn't hurt so much._ It hurt terribly as they kept throwing it…back and forth…

Nathan smiled at her a little. _The haunted eyes were gone._ She looked happy and…uh….like she was leaving! _Ungrateful little witch!_ His smile died, replaced by a grimace as he realized she was just going to go without even bothering to thank him for his kindness. ___"Don't say thank you and all!"_

Haley turned back around at that, frowning. "My Papa taught me that you don't have to say thank you if someone _STEALS_ something from you."

"I didn't steal it!"

She came back at him quickly. "Yes you did. You took it from the grass and when I told you it was mine you still kept it. _You're a thief!_ And I don't like you. You're all mean boys." She looked around a bit, but then focused just on him.

"And you're nothing but an ___ungrateful peasant girl_."

Haley stared at him for an angry moment before she turned away now and started down the hill. All she cared about was that she had her locket back. And she didn't need to say thank you. ___Not to a rude boy like that._

Nathan watched as she took a tumble halfway down. He started to move, a foot advancing involuntarily, but then she got back up, just brushing herself off as if she on a routine basis fell down. _Maybe she did._ Maybe she was clumsy. He saw her look back for a moment.

"Hey Nate…come on! Let's go play again! Forget about that stupid dirty little girl!"

He nodded his head, even though he didn't really agree with the _dirty_ comment. Her hair had been kind of messy, but she hadn't been marked with dirt or nothing. He faced his friends to appease them for the moment. "Yeah, okay, okay." He turned back around after to see if she was still looking at him, but her tiny form was already disappearing from sight as he could now catch only a blur of her backside running through the trees.

_And then she was gone._

**I*~*I**

_More to come…_

Thank you for reading. Feedback is adored.

For Janet's Idea, the south was the perfect place for this story. That of course meant North Carolina the perfect state. So then I decided I wanted to give a background to the fictional Tree Hill. I thought it would be interesting to say a Cherokee Indian named the place years before it became a developed town. For the fictional purpose of this story, it was once just a simple wooded hilly area with different kinds of trees, like the prevalent Oak, Sycamore and Pine.

Now the story is of course made up, but the Cherokee did live in North Carolina before the move westward of the Native Americans.

Slavery: I will touch on this topic in this story quite a few times, but also like I said another big issue is on the way.


	3. Chapter 3

_***~*The Locket*~***_

Thank you for your feeback, putting this story on alert/fave list. It's wonderful to see this story get some new readers at FF. Thank you for your support!

II*****II

_**I*~*I~Tree Hill, 1882~*~**_

_**I* **__**I*~I*Part IV…The Revealing*I~*I**_

"Come on now…" He snapped with the reins a bit and felt the animal underneath him pick up the pace quickly. He smiled with satisfaction and warmly petted him. _"Yeah boy…"_ It was such freedom being like this, school out for the year. He had finished his chores for the day. Not too much he had to do this afternoon, and so now he could just ride and ride. It was perfect, so perfect when it was on a horse like _Red Wolf_.

When he told people his name for his horse they usually stared at him curiously. That didn't matter though. _He got it_, and his father actually got it too after he explained it to him. Once out on a hunting round, for the heck of it, with his father, they had seen one, a red wolf. His father motioned for him to be quiet. He told him there weren't as many of them now. They scared when the people came. They wouldn't hunt him for that, because it was skittish and few in number. They'd just watch him.

Nathan felt himself doing just that on that day, watching the animal with a strange awe. He was not big, but he had this look to his face, almost sleepy, and yet so alert. His fur was lined with browns and golds, bits of black, and that deep redness. He was small, and yet agile, firm, strong.

_Like his horse._

He'd gotten him when he'd only been seven years old. His mom had insisted he not get too big a horse. She had been afraid he might fall off. He hadn't been sure about that at first, wanting a large one, but that was before his first couple of rides. Now he wouldn't trade in his horse for anything. He was like that wolf, peculiar, touched with sparks of red on his golden brown mane, his ears touched with blackness. His eyes were alert and yet so relaxed too. He was fast and fierce, but also wary, watchful.

Best of all, he knew how to jump. After first getting him, it hadn't taken Nathan that long to learn how to ride him, the process immediately one he enjoyed. After getting good at that, it came time to try jumping. He'd been jumping him in secret since he was eight and a half years old. It wouldn't do to tell his mother about it. She'd just worry. Of course his father had seen him, but hadn't let on about it. His father was good at keeping secrets like that, and he appreciated it.

Finishing their run of the hill now, Nathan patted the horse again. "_Good Red…really good._ Now let's go ride near the pines." The horse neighed in answer and Nathan smiled at that.

It really felt so good to be out of school. He didn't get it, what school was about. It didn't really seem to teach him much of anything, except big words he would never use. And how to write a letter. _Heck, what did he need to know how to write a letter for?_ Even the history parts were boring. They just talked and talked about what happened during the war, and it made him want to call out he knew about all that. He seen when he was little all the holes in the ground, the large spaces where once a house stood. He seen the slaves leaving town.

He asked about that once, getting in trouble. _Why slavery? What had made them want to have it? Didn't they think there was anything wrong with owning people?_ That got him to stay after school one day until his father came and said that he would be taking him home. That little old lady teacher knew better than to argue with his father. He asked his father the question then as they were on their way home, knowing it was a loaded one, but in too sullen a mood to care. His father just stared at him for a moment, before saying… _"The south was rich then, so rich. It worked. And that was the end of it. Now was a new time, and they were rich still."_

The talk then turned to about the factory. Nathan wasn't sure about his father's answer, but liked when the talk turned to the factory. If his father thought he was trying to sass him there, he wasn't. He just wondered about things sometimes. Maybe a little more lately. Maybe a little less. He was starting to understand some things were before his time. The south, before the war, that world, was a thing of the past, even though there were those who stuck with their farms, living in near poverty now, because they couldn't realize their new tenant farming system wasn't working. It wasn't the same as the plantations before.

It was a growing time for the factories. He was seeing more being built around the edges of town and all. A new one where they built furniture. Another clothing one that competed with his father's business, but so far didn't do half as well. He was with his father one time when a man asked _how did he do it, how did he get his clothing out so fast…what was the secret?_ His father told the man there was no secret, but when the man persisted, whispered something in his ear, his father smirked. Then he had reached for him and told him to get a drink from the corner store across the way. Nathan had obediently done so, but wondered what the man and his father talked about, when they got all close up and whispered…_laughed…and whispered_.

What his father did share with him about the factory of course he was entirely interested in. Sometimes now his father would take him with him, show him what was done by the men and the women who worked there. It was a nice factory. It was kept clean for such a place, and all the workers were smiling when he went through. He stopped to talk to a few and they all said just good things about his father. They liked him so much. It was no secret why. His father was the best man there was, _end of it_, as his father would say.

He looked up at the sky now, seeing that the afternoon was starting to come on, the strong summer sun lessening only a bit. Shading his eyes with his hand, he looked across the way and saw New Bern down there. That was his home, with all those big magnificent grand houses, his somewhere in the middle. He felt it made them more special, being in the middle of it all. They were right there in the center, their house and then some yards away was the factory, the one that allowed him to have a horse as wild and excellent as Red Wolf.

_"Come on Red…"_ He steered his horse now. "Let's work up some speed and take on some of the wild brush." The horse neighed in answer and at the snap of the reins from his owner, started to run through the tall grass, his hooves thundering over the ground. Nathan moved up in the saddle and held on only a bit. He never worried about having to hold on too tight. He was fearless on top of his horse, totally fearless. Besides, he was eleven years old now, _not too many years away from being a man_, his father would proudly say. He'd grow up into that man, that man that would be just like his father.

I*****II*****I

Haley stumbled a bit, then righted herself again as she crossed through Tree Hill quickly. She had only come down this way to sell some eggs in town. Even though Mama worked at the mill, and even though they had sold most of their farm animals after Papa died, they had a few chickens left, and they laid good eggs that she could get a bit of money for sometimes if she took them to town early enough. Now she needed to get home though and start supper. Mama was working at the mill today, wouldn't be home until night, and so she was in charge of their dinner.

Haley's face saddened as she thought of her Mama. She was not looking too well now more and more. Once she had come home and fallen. Other times she had fever and Haley got Mrs. Brown next store to come and help, but still, it was only temporary. Haley knew what it was making her Mama so sick now sometimes, the mill work. Even though it made her cringe to ever think of going there, she had offered to work at the mill too. Her Mama had flatly told her no, after a long hacking cough. She needed to stay in school. Haley didn't bother to tell her then that it was no use anyway, she missed school already a lot as it was. At least she had her books at home. She could read better than kids that were even older than her. The teacher let her sometimes teach a group of kids because she said she was so smart. Haley would only smile. It was impolite to boast. And there was no need to.

She did miss the few friends she had at school when she didn't go. She didn't know why, but some of the kids kept their distance from her. She supposed it might have a little to do with the teacher telling her she was smart. While those kids stayed away though, others came right up to her and asked for help, and she always graciously said yes. Papa had told her _it's good to always be kind. And that if you knew something well, share it._

Haley fingered at the locket around her neck now, touching it with hands that labored hard to keep their home nice when Mama was away at work. When Mama was sick. She studied the deep gold and bits of tarnishing that surrounded the basket of flowers in the center of the booklet locket. Studied it so intensely, she didn't hear the thundering until finally she looked up and saw a big monster coming right at her. It made her scream before her body fell to the ground in a cold faint of pure terror.

I*****II*****I

_"That's it Red! Go! Go!"_ Nathan called out with excitement as Red Wolf jumped over another brush area, over a rock. He laughed, but startled as suddenly the horse neighed sharply, shrill, a screaming sound coming out of its mouth. He turned from his half side view and saw it, saw what made the horse scream…_saw her_.

"HECK!" He called out, swearing tightly, yanking on the horse's reins, knowing full well what that would do, before it actually happened. He felt the horse buck tightly. Felt him lift his hooves up into the air, high, the force of a stop coming from his owner startling him.

_"AHHHH!"_

Nathan screamed as he felt his body lose its balance, the horse's loss of control tearing away his own control. He tried to keep hold of the reins, but as the horse started to buck more wildly, he let go on purpose, allowing his body to fall to the ground and hoping it wouldn't land too near _Red_. Even a good horse like Red, once out of control and spooked, could be extremely dangerous. His body hit the earth with a horrid smacking sound, something breaking right away, but Nathan didn't feel anything, blackness filling his eyes with his first touch of the earth.

Two last thoughts formed in his mind before that blackness took over. One for his horse. Hoping he'd be all right. The other about what they had been forced to stop at…_wondering what the heck had she being doing standing there…_

I*****II*****I

_"Mmmm…"_ Haley slowly opened her eyes, waking up to a shrill screaming sound. She adjusted her vision, and then saw it, that big monster just a few feet away. She screamed now too, before she realized it. _It was no monster._ No monster at all. It was a horse. A horse. _But hadn't someone been riding it?_ Hadn't someone-

The horse let out another wild neigh and she tried to move. It wasn't hard. Not a single part of her was hurt. She must have just gotten so scared when she saw that animal coming at her that she dropped down and fainted. She sat up now, seeing the horse still acting wildly, running back and forth like it had some task it had to do, but not sure what it was, and so it kept running forward and then back to that figure lying in the grass. _The figure lying in the grass? Oh no. Someone was hurt._

Haley brushed her skirt down now and got up quickly. She started to make her way to the perfectly still figure just lying there, but stopped as the horse advanced on her quickly, neighing what sounded like a warning sound, baring its teeth. If she wasn't mistaken, she would say that horse was protecting the figure. Its master most likely. Haley forced herself to slow down her movements a bit, speaking in a quiet voice. _"Shhhh…whoa…it's okay…okay…"_ She wasn't really scared now that she knew it was a horse, not a monster. They had horses on their farm when she was younger. A few that she would ride. Her father had taught her lots about them, including how to calm a spooked one. _"Whoa…all right…okay…"_ She reached down and grabbed some grass, keeping her eye on the horse and making sure she wasn't too close that it could back up and kick out at her. _"Here boy…here you go…or girl, but you look like a boy to me…some grass…whoa…calm now…come on…it's all right…all right…"_

She kept up like that, petting the animal gently, and it finally started to take the grass from her hand. She slowly moved her other hand around and grabbed onto the animal's reins. She felt it start to grow startled again. Quickly, she used her calm voice once more. _"No, no…not going to do anything to you…not going to hurt you boy…just going to bring you a little out of the way, okay? I need to check and make sure your owner is okay, all right? Need to make sure that they're not hurt…okay?"_ She soothed the anxious horse and then finally got it to walk with her a bit away from the still figure.

Smiling tightly at the horse now, she bent down to her knees and looked down at the still figure. It looked like a boy, a big boy. He was lying with his face turned away from her, partly on his stomach, partly on his side, his arm turned in a not so comfortable looking way. She heard the horse neigh and she looked up at him caringly. _"I think he'll be all right. He may've hurt his arm though. You're a good horse I can tell. I'm sure you'll get him home safely."_ The horse neighed as if saying yes. Haley smiled a little before she grimaced as she turned back to the boy. Trying to be gentle, not even knowing if she was strong enough because he was a big boy and she wasn't that tall a girl, she turned him over more so she could see his face, and so he could be at least a bit more comfortable. The face she saw made her brow wrinkle a bit.

_"Hmmm…this boy looks familiar."_ She wondered about it, deciding after a bit of pondering, that he wasn't from school, not from her town area…not from…

She felt her locket suddenly hit against her chest, inside her dress, over her heart. With her movement forward it had come right against it and now she suddenly remembered. It made her gasp. _"Oh my gosh…_this is the boy who stole my locket!"

_"I didn't steal it…"_

She startled at the tired yet annoyed sounding complaint of a murmur. She looked down at him, seeing his eyes still closed.

Nathan murmured again and slowly opened his eyes, seeing big brown ones looking down at him. He struggled to clear his vision, feeling something hit against his arm. He grabbed at it with his hand before screaming out in agony, his face going white, his arm falling back to the ground with a loud smack.

Haley felt sympathy touch her as she watched him fight to not cry out again, his face still ever so white and his forehead creased with pain. "I knew it…you broke your arm."

Nathan said nothing at first, slowly turning back to look at her. He brought up the hand of his unbroken arm just as slowly, catching the book shaped locket in his fingers. _"I didn't steal it…"_ He felt shock hit him as she seemed to smile a little, but then the pain of his broken arm dug through his body again, making him shake. _"Red?"_

Haley touched at her hair, wondering if he was talking about _it_. She looked down at him questioningly, seeing him shake his head back and forth before he stopped. _"No…not you…your hair's not red anyway…more like cinnamon. I meant my horse. Is he all right?"_

Haley did smile now, bravely. She liked his horse. "Oh yes, he's fine. He just got spooked."

"Yeah…well you did that. Screaming like you did and just standing out there. Stupid thing to do with a horse."

Haley immediately felt angry at that. "Well you should watch where you ride more carefully!"

Nathan's eyes opened wide at that. "You're not blaming me for this. It's all your fault…_Peasant Girl_."

Haley looked down now at him fiercely, noting his sharp blue eyes, but too angry to care that much about them. "Don't you call me Peasant Girl! I'm not a peasant girl _you jewelry thief!_"

That did it for Nathan. He started to sit up now, using the support of one arm and starting to gesture at her with the other one, stupidly his broken one, before it screamed at him its injury. He bit down on his lip hard, tasting the blood, and fell back down to the ground, moaning.

Haley heard the horse neigh mournfully, watched him come over and try to nudge his master. Gently, she pushed him away. _"No…uh…Red…he's hurt."_ She looked down at the boy, hearing him moan again, before she lifted the bottom of her skirt, lifted it and then tore at the skirted petticoat that lay underneath, tore a long piece of it off with her small hands.

Nathan started to open his eyes again at the ripping sounds and stared at the girl for a moment, shifting his head a little. _"What are you doing?"_

Haley said nothing, just inspected the piece of now ripped material, pushing back down the bottom layer of her skirt over the now torn petticoat. She turned back to the boy, seeing him still staring at her curiously. She gestured to him. "Sit up…"

Nathan tried, but felt his body not cooperating with him, the pain in his arm too sharp. Then he felt it, that little girl's hand now lifting at his good arm, her other hand stretched out for him to hold onto. He did, grimacing at the pain, but felt himself able to sit at least after a bit with no help. _"Now what?"_

Haley just shook her head and reached gently for his broken arm with one hand, reached out for the hand of his unbroken arm with her other hand.

_"What are you doing?"_ Nathan started to protest, but felt her put a finger near his lips. He stared at her questioningly.

"If it hurts a lot, you can squeeze this hand with your good arm. _Just please don't break my wrist or hurt my hand._ I need it to cook supper tonight."

Nathan stared at her for a moment, thinking she didn't look exactly like she had that first time he saw her, when she accused him of wanting to steal her locket. Her hair was a little neater now, but the bangs still brushed over the top of her head. Her face was a tiny bit more full, though her big brown eyes, were just as big and brown, had that bit of haunting in them, maybe even a little more so now. And, if he wasn't mistaken the tiny thing was just a bit…possibly…taller. He looked down at the hand that she had put in his so he could squeeze it if he needed to. He started to squeeze hard, then met her startled eyes with a mischievous look on his face. _"Spark…got you…"_

Haley rolled her eyes, shaking her head. He was a bigger boy now, but still such a silly boy obviously, a nuisance, even though his eyes were so sharp, so stark blue. "Continue being such an annoying boy and I won't help you."

He laughed slightly, but glanced up again to see her firm look. He wondered at it. The girl was probably no more than ten and yet there was a maturity in her he usually only saw in adults. He moved his hand out of hers before he explained. "I'd rather rip the grass out of the ground than _hurt your cooking hand_."

Haley rolled her eyes at him again. "I'm serious…and I use both hands to cook. I just…_oh forget it!_"

He watched a touch of redness hit her face, and smiled slightly at it, before she lifted his arm to put the piece of torn material around it. The smile vanished quickly as he grasped fiercely at the grasses on the ground, thankful he had let go of her hand as the grasses split into pieces in his clenched whitening hand.

I*****II*****I

Moving to sit behind him, Haley reached for the two ties of her makeshift sling, gathering them tightly in her hands, being careful not to hurt him more than he already was. She tied them securely now, right below his hairline, around his neck, and then moved forward again to examine her handiwork. She was met with a pair of blue eyes that were staring at her. She looked away, nervously fiddling with the sleeves of her dark blue dress.

Nathan said nothing as he felt her fingers brush over the collar of his shirt. He looked down at the many grasses he had pulled out of the earth. It was good he had let go of her hand, could have disrupted tonight's supper by breaking it. He felt her come alongside him now, move to the front. He watched her curiously. It hadn't hurt too much. His arm's pain had been mostly from the break. That had been what made him tear the grasses out of the ground. But her tending had actually been gentle and grown up for such a little thing. Their eyes met. He stared, and she turned away.

Haley wouldn't meet his eyes now no more. She looked back up at his horse. She felt something against her throat. It made her startle.

_"Shhh…not going to take it."_

She turned back to the boy, seeing his fingers moving against her locket, his hand of his good arm fingering it. She pushed his hand away shakily. _"It's not yours to touch. It's mine."_

He stared for a second, but moved his hand down. "It's different than most. My mother has a lot of fancy pieces, but none like this one."

Haley didn't say anything, focusing on his horse again.

It was there once more, that haunted expression. The girl really probably was about a few years younger than him, but that look was almost of an adult. He wondered at it. His eyes moved downward to her worn shoes. He grimaced.

Haley felt his eyes on her, on her shoes. She haughtily lifted her chin, but said nothing. He was probably thinking she was just some poor girl, him in his well laced up shoes, his white shirt and dark brown pants made of expensive material she could tell. He was thinking she was nothing than just a-

"What's your name?"

The question brought her out of her thoughts. She turned to see him looking at her curiously now, a half smile on his face. She stood up suddenly, not answering his question, focusing on more important practical matters. "Okay…now I just don't know how you're going to ride. With only one arm it won't be that easy."

Nathan reached down with his good arm and slowly stood up, taking a step closer, and asking her the question again. _"What is your name?"_

Haley turned away from him, looking at his horse stubbornly.

Wrinkle lines formed on Nathan's forehead. Lines of persistence now. "Come on…you do have a _name_, right? Or is it really _peasant girl_?" He teased.

Haley whipped back around to face him. "No it's not! _Jewelry thief!_"

Nathan laughed a little, before he reached and brushed a hair away from her face. Haley moved back quickly, pushing his hand away. _"Don't…don't touch me."_

Questioning formed on Nathan's face at her defensive reaction. "_Why?_ You just touched me a whole lot, splinting my arm. Thanks for that by the way."

"I only did that because I had to, because I didn't want to leave you hurt. I would have felt bad. My Papa taught me to always treat those who are hurt with care."

_"Your Papa?"_

Haley turned away from him.

Nathan sighed, a mischievous look coming to his face. "Well then since you won't tell me your name…guess I'll just keep calling you _Peasant Girl_."

Haley rapidly faced him again, angry once more. "I only helped you because I had to!"

Nathan frowned at that, reminding himself too that this girl was one of _them_ anyway. She lived…_there_. "_Fine_…just be smart and don't jump in front of horses anymore."

Haley chased after him as he started to get up on his horse. "I did not jump in fron-

She stopped, seeing that he wasn't doing so well with getting back up on his horse. "What's wrong?"

Nathan moaned, suddenly feeling a bit dizzy and ill, pained. "Dang arm hurts…_ahhh…_"

_"I can ride."_

Nathan stared at the girl with a frown. "What?"

Haley wondered at her words. She should just go back home. She was going to be so late to make dinner now. The sun would soon start going down in the sky. "I know how to ride. I can ride up front, holding the reins, and you can ride in back, rest your arm and keep it from getting any more hurt. You'll get sick if you try to use it too much…pain will spread to other parts of your body. You need to rest it. I can ride."

Nathan just watched her for a moment, thinking she was like a spark of…_something_. She was plainly dressed and yet her face sparked with such energy whenever she spoke, her emotions bouncing from one to the other. For the weirdest second he wondered what it would look like when she smiled, _fully smiled_. "I don't need you to do that."

Haley balked easily, happy to turn away from his sometimes very strong blue eyes. "Sure, you can just walk." Her look was dry, before she started to climb up on the horse.

Nathan reached out with his good arm quickly, trying to stop her. "_Hey!_ He's not that comfortable with new-

His words halted. He stared in amazement as Red Wolf neighed gently while the girl climbed up on him pretty easily and pet his mane cooingly, the horse whinnying softly and in appreciation. It all shocked Nathan. "_How did you get him to…he_…he usually doesn't like new people. He won't even let them get on him without bucking them off. Not without me. _How did you get him to gentle so?_"

Haley smiled with a bit of pride. "My Papa taught me. Used to have a bunch of horses on our farm before…"

Her voice drifted off as he got up on the horse in back of her, feeling her little hand reaching for him, before she let go, her head now down. He faced her from behind, asking quietly, _"Before what?"_

Haley shook her head, saying nothing and starting the horse to a slow trot. As it went over a patch of uneven ground, she felt a slight jostling, at the same time felt the boy behind her grasp her waist with his unhurt hand. She focused ahead though, not minding or thinking about that hand, feeling it let go of her waist almost as quickly as it had grasped it, as the ground evened out again. "It's okay…_if you need to hold on._ It's better than you falling off again." She spoke just a whisper over the sound of the horse's hooves hitting the ground. _"Your horse is nice."_

Nathan smiled, impressed by how well she did ride and how easily Red had taken to her. "His name is Red Wolf." He felt her inquisitiveness and continued, a story he didn't always tell, not in such detail anyway. Few got it. But he told it to her, now easily talking to the girl, practically forgetting about his hurt arm. "When I was younger hunting with my father once, we saw a red wolf. It was one of the only ones out there in the forest. It was all kinds of ways different and all kinds of ways the same, you know? I liked that. I liked that wolf. We didn't hurt it if you're wondering, didn't hunt it, just let it go. When I got my horse…Red here…he reminded me so much of that wolf, that I named him that…Red Wolf."

Haley smiled at his story, feeling freer too now as he couldn't see her face and there was something just so wild and wonderful about riding a horse. She'd missed this freedom after Papa got sick, went away, and they had to sell them all. She missed riding like this, even though the boy riding behind her was injured. "Good choice."

_"What's your name?"_

She heard him ask again, this time a little softer, his hand brushing against her waist at another jostling part of ground before he let go. She had to admit, it relaxed her actually. His grip wasn't tight or mean now like it had seemed to be when they first met. Even then he hadn't been really all that mean or hurtful. He had given her…her locket back. _"Haley."_

Nathan felt a touch of warmth hit him as she finally told him her name. With a smile he offered his. "Mine's Nathan." He wasn't sure why he didn't just say Nate, what his friends and sometimes even his parents called him. He waited for her to say something, but she didn't say a word. Red moved over some more uneven ground and Nathan grasped Haley's waist tighter, letting go afterward once again quickly. "Sorry Haley…hope I didn't hold you too tight."

Haley, focused on the dirt trail ahead, answered quietly. _"You didn't."_

I*****II*****I

Nathan felt Haley's apprehension as they reached his house. As she turned her face to the side to take in all she was seeing, the grandeur of the house he lived in, he could read the wonder and discomfort that was there. He had felt her tentativeness the whole way along, as they got closer to where he lived, as they turned away from the direction of her own probably run down home, to the beauty of New Bern.

_"It's just a house."_ He spoke now to end that discomfort on her face. It was weird for him to say something like that. He always bragged about his house and everything. Just now…now he didn't feel like bragging, not with her looking all uncertain. It reminded him of that wolf that day he and Father saw while hunting. It acted all skittish at first, until it felt it wasn't being surrounded, wasn't being watched. Then it just acted all casual. It acted so free.

Nathan pointed Haley along the way to the direction of the dirt road that led to the entrance, the front door. His hand brushed against her waist and he could feel her nervousness, but also see from her profile she was trying to hide it. He watched ahead as the door to the house opened.

Haley watched too as a woman came out of the house, a beautiful richly dressed woman who called for someone. Haley tightened her hands around the reins, feeling very nervous. This house, _it was so big_. These people, they were strangers. They would look at her, look at her clothes and…_suddenly she felt embarrassed of her poorness_. For the first time she felt ashamed of who she was and she didn't like that feeling at all.

Nathan watched Haley's head come down and started to say something to her, but then his father was there, running outside the door and coming to him, his mother gasping.

And it happened.

Nathan tried to move his broken arm, actually pulling down on the sling with his other arm. It sent a sharp pain through him. He cried out. Haley had said earlier that trying to move too much would make the pain spread to other parts of his body. He felt that now, felt himself getting light headed, his eyes flashing open and closed as a driving pounding made him moan, made his body feel weak. He slumped over, his head touching Haley's shoulder.

Haley turned around at his cry, seeing his face whitening again. _"Nathan?"_ She asked, gasping as he seemed to be falling over to the side. She reached for him, but then felt someone lifting her up off the horse. Another person was there, practically pushing her away. Feeling totally rejected, she watched as the man grabbed for a too still Nathan now, lifting him into his arms. He must be his father, she thought. Sorrowfully, she noticed how Nathan's face was white again, how his eyes were closed. She watched nervously, starting to whisper his name. _"Nathan…"_

She watched his eyes open, saw him seem to come to himself, realize what had happened and struggle to get out of his father's arms, but it done no good. His father wasn't letting go. She shook her head slowly at it all, the tall blonde haired woman now reaching for the boy too and desperately kissing his forehead.

The father turned to Haley, his voice demanding. "_Who are you?_ What did you do with my son?"

Haley started to shake her head, taking an uncertain step back. The man was big and his face was stern, mean right now. His eyes were as blue as his son's, just more piercing and cruel it seemed. She fidgeted nervously, biting down on her bottom lip.

Hearing his father's accusations, even in his weakened state, Nathan shook his head, catching Haley's fearful expression. It surprised him. She shouldn't be fearful. His father was a good man, only stern sometimes, and protective. But as for that accusation from his father, that was just ludicrous. Haley was a tiny little thing. "Nothing father…she didn't do nothing. Just splinted my arm. Long story, but she just helped. Not that I needed that much help mind you…"

Haley rolled her eyes at that, then felt him looking at her. She turned to see a slight smirk on his face before his eyes closed again. Feeling another pair of eyes on her, she saw the father looking down at her again, his face a little less fierce now, but not at all accepting, not at all cordial. He resembled closely his son, dark hair, strong blue eyes, but a mustache sat over his lip, where Nathan was simply a boy and of course had no mustache. Tall though too he was.

For a second her eyes moved to the woman's face. It was a pinched one it seemed, pretty, beautiful actually, no more beautiful than Mama of course though, even with how much powder this woman wore, no woman was as beautiful as Mama. She searched the woman's face for any kindness, but what she saw actually made her start to bristle inside.

"Well I'm taking Nathan in…get the doctor for him and remove this dirty ripped piece of material from his arm, put a nice _CLEAN, UNSOILED_ wrap around his arm."

_"I'm not dirty!"_

Nathan's eyes opened at _that_. He turned to see Haley actually now standing up to his father. She barely reached his waist and yet she was angrily speaking to him now, defiance in her small face.

Daniel Scott laughed at the girl, a cold smirk forming on his lips. _He'd dealt with this kind enough._ He gestured to his wife and watched her go in. Then he stepped forward towards the little girl, watching her not back down an inch. Spunky little thing…but dirt poor it looked like.

Nathan struggled to get out of his father's arms, to stand on his own now, but his father's grip even with how big he himself was getting, was too strong. And his father was a big man that he couldn't easily escape. Still, he'd fight his weakness to keep his eyes open and see what this was about.

_"I didn't say you were dirty."_

Nathan relaxed at that.

"I said _your clothes_ were."

Haley bristled, speaking quickly. "They are not!"

Nathan put in quietly, "They're not father. It would have bothered me if they were, but really, they're not." He could hear the indignation in Haley's voice.

Haley stared at Nathan for a bit, before she noticed the new thing now. His mother was coming out. In her hands was…

"Here…Nathan says you helped him so here is some food so you won't have to go to sleep hungry. Take this kindness and…_be on your way_. Go back to _where you belong_."

_"Oh Dear how kind of you…giving food to the poor little girl. Now what do you say girl?"_

"Father, don't!" Nathan called out angrily now, seeing the pain in Haley's face, shame, before anger replaced it. "She's not that way father. She's not lazy. Just poor, but not dirty…like some of the others can be, all lazy and dirty."

Haley turned to Nathan defiantly. "_You don't know who I am…what I am! You don't know what they are…who they are!_ They're more than you…more than…_this_!" Through blinding tears she looked at the woman who held the bowl of food, good rich food it looked like. She smacked it with her hand, hitting it so hard that it all fell to the ground. "And I don't need your charity! Not from ANY of you!"

Nathan winced as he felt her hard look, before she ran away, down their dirt carriage entrance. He whispered, _"You shouldn't have called her that."_

Daniel Scott scoffed at his son's words. "It's what she is! Poor girl should accept it."

Debra Scott spoke now finally too, shaking her head at the thrown food. "Rude girl too! You do best to stay away from her kind Nathan. A selfish ungrateful little brat that girl is!"

Nathan said nothing, only remembering the pain in Haley's face before she ran away. _She had been ashamed_. They made her feel ashamed. Like she was no good. _Like she was…nothing._

For the first time in his life, he wasn't sure how much he liked his parents, or for that matter…_things about himself._

I*****II*****I

_"And so they became friends after that?" _

_Halen shook his head. _

_He had taken her to a quaint restaurant that was half indoor, half out. Their table overlooked the river's peaceful beautiful waters. _

_"No…not really. My mother had no time for such things…at least she didn't allow herself the luxury of it for awhile. Her life was growing harder. Her…Mama's…health was turning for the worse even more." _

_Chelsea watched as he turned away now, saying nothing, but his eyes…they were so sad. She reached for his hand, gently holding it in her own. She didn't know why, but she felt so comfortable with this man. And the story he was telling her, it drew her in so deeply. _

_Now seeing his sadness, she wanted to help the person telling that story. "I'm sorry…it must have been so hard for your Mama." _

_Halen simply nodded his head, before responding. "Yes…very hard. But she had a protector…as she helped him learn the truths of the world, he did his best to help her. Even before a friendship could begin for them…they started to teach each other…they started to care…_

I*****II*****I

_More to come…_

Thanks for reading! Feedback is beautiful.


	4. Chapter 4

I***~***I_**The Locket **_I***~***I

Thank you for your support and reading! If you're interested, I just updated this story with a new chapter. I'm a little behind with updates at FF because it takes time to post and load. And I love having people read this story here, but if you want to read the most up to date chapters now, just click on my profile and then my homepage link. You can find it there. Thanks!

**Author Note: **At this point the story starts taking on some historical dark issues of this historical time period. Once again this time was labeled _The Gilded Age_ for good reason, because while some prospered others were in deep poverty and worked in conditions that couldn't last. I've researched a lot of this on the net in books and such, so I'll be as accurate as I can be. Of course though it's a fictional piece so it'll reflect that too. And there's always human error. Thanks for understanding.

Note: There are some flashbacks in this part and they're marked by full italics and my little symbols I use.

I*~*I

I*~*I _Halen took the stories to two years later, telling of a hard decision his mother had to make, a decision that would deeply affect his father…_I*~*I

I***~***I** _The Locket _**I***~***I

I***~***I _**Part V…The Apology **_I***~***I

I***~***I _**North Carolina, town area, 1884 **_I***~***I

She approached the gray building, her footsteps slow, hesitant. They contrasted the determination of her mind. She raised her head, straining her neck to see the top of the building, just as gray. It was almost windowless. Turning around, she saw Tree Hill, all pretty, all full of nature and so many pine cones to collect. In the other direction, she saw her school, at the top of a small hill. It was a reddish brown building, with one big room for all the children. Turning away from both places, she headed up the steps of the gray building.

Going inside, she could hear noise coming from a bit afar. She knew that noise. She had heard it before. Walking over a cement floor, she noticed two rooms off to the side. One said, _"The Manager."_ Biting down on her bottom lip, she headed to it. Turning around nervously, she hesitated. She wasn't so sure about this now.

But as she remembered that morning…

I*~*I "_Well Mrs. Brown?" _

_"I'm sorry Haley Honey. Your Mama's not going to be able to work today. She's too ill. She has fever again." _

_Haley looked down at the ground, before she nodded her head. "Thank you…Mrs. Brown? Will you please be so kind as to get her some more cloths to cool her down some?" _

_"Yes Honey…of course." _

_Haley looked down at her sleeping Mama as Mrs. Brown left the room for a moment to go get some more cold wraps. She reached for her Mama's hand, holding it in hers. "I promise Mama…I'm going to make it better. You won't have to work as much no more. You'll get to rest Mama…I'll make sure of it." _I*~*I

"Yes? What do you want _girl_?"

Haley stilled as she noticed now the man had opened his office door and was looking down at her, an impatient look on his fat face. Feeling even more nervous, she spoke shakily. "S-sir i-if you c-could-

The man frowned. "_Well don't stammer girl!_ What are you here for?" He scrutinized her now, focusing on one part of her features. "_Wait a minute_…let me see those hands girl."

Haley shivered. He was looking at her with so much interest now, the interest someone would give to _a work horse_. She brought her hands out and this time spoke much more firmly. "I want to make a deal with you sir…Mr. Manager."

The man's eyebrows came up at that. "Oh you do girl, huh? And what kind of deal are you thinking about? I'm not in the habit of making deals with snot nosed children."

Haley pulled her hands back now, folding them behind her back, not wanting to feel the pressure of his cold rough hands anymore. She didn't like the man that much. He looked to be only about one thing. He looked greedy and mean. But she needed his help. She needed it for her Mama. If she could make this deal with him…

"Sir, I will work for you. I will come days and work for you…I only ask you for this favor. You make it so my Mama can stay home some more, not work so much."

The man frowned, shaking his head. "And who is your Mama, girl?"

"Her name is Lynette James, Sir."

"Hmph. That lazy woman didn't even come to work today."

Before she could control herself, Haley's voice rose, her hands fixing on her waist. "My Mama is not lazy!" Seeing the man's eyes widen now, she bit down on her bottom lip. She knew better. Knew to bite her tongue with adults like this. It was just so hard to stay quiet sometimes, especially when someone insulted her Mama. It was so hard, even at eleven years old.

Still, she knew she had to do what was right…for her Mama. "I'm sorry Sir. _Please pardon my rudeness._" She bowed her head, her hands clasping together in front of the plain brown dress she was wearing, the material worn, but clean.

"Right you should be girl. Now get on your way!"

She didn't turn around to leave as he told her to do. She instead spoke more plaintively. "_Please sir…_I only ask you let me work for you. I have small hands…I know for this kind of work small hands are good. My fingers…_see them sir_. I work good…I work fast sir. I am a child, but I am also eleven years old sir. I learn things fast. I'm good at school." Feeling a tear coming down her face, she furiously wiped it away and moved closer to the man, pulling at his jacket, before letting go. "_Please sir._ My Mama is not lazy. She is a good worker, but sir…the work is hard. The hours are long."

The man bent down now, his look mean and angry. Haley struggled to not look away. _To not run away._

"_You complaining girl?_ You should feel darn lucky I give your Mama a job. This is a good place I run here…good place. _And what can you do? You know anything about mill work?_"

Haley slowly shook her head. "No sir. But like I said, I can learn. And I'll not complain. I promise I won't. I just ask that you let me work days."

"Ain't you going to school?"

She was. She loved school. She wished she could keep going. She wished…

Haley reached for her locket under her dress, squeezing it in her hand.

She wished that Papa hadn't had to go away…too early Papa went to Heaven.

"Yes sir, but I'll not go on days I must work here. I want to work…for you sir. I only ask you one more favor. You not tell my Mama, please sir. You let her work less hours, but give her the money. You pay her sir. I'm not asking you pay me. Just please pay my Mama so we can have food to eat and…I will work for you sir on the days when my Mama can't. I will do what I must to let her rest."

The man frowned. He wasn't moved at all, wasn't much caring. He'd dealt with enough after the war, losing his plantation and then having to start this mill. He was resentful. Resentful of the north for all their meddling in the south's business. Resentful for not having the kind of money he had before the war. Resentful of what he had lost. He felt someone owed him so it made no difference to him that others might be even poorer. He was only concerned about himself. And right now he was more than willing to take advantage of the situation. This little girl had brought up some very important points. _This little girl gave him a very interesting…beneficial idea._ Beneficial for himself anyway.

"Well…since you're just a child, you will have to work _double_ to get the money your Mama would make. Tell you what…any day your Mama can't work you come here and you do her work. I'll let her keep her job then even after those days she's lazy…_SICK_. You will just do the work for her, and I'll pay her the money, small as it may be. You're just a child…you want the same amount…you'll have to do as I said before, _double the work_.. For one or two years we will do this. Then you will come to work for me. You're of age girl. Your hands are still small though, making you good for mill work. You will start working for me then, full time, and I'll have a friend of mine have your Mama work at his factory. No good to have the two of you working together. I'll get to keep you…young one that has small hands, and my friend will be in charge of your Mama."

Haley swallowed hard. "But sir?"

"That's the deal girl or you walk out of here now and your Mama…she has no job."

_"BUT SIR THAT'S NOT FAIR!"_

The man reached out and grabbed Haley's wrist. She winced and tried to pull away. She was scared now. "_I'm sorry sir_…I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell out. That's just not fair though."

The man smiled cruelly, but let go of her wrist. "You want work? _You shut your mouth and you do it the way I say._ I can tell you stories about _FAIRNESS_…stories of that blasted war that took away all my money…took away my family. _It's a cruel world girl._ Get used to it. Now you want work…you realize one thing. You work for me. You DO what _I_ say. You have NO say. You want a deal…_well I've made it_. Your Mama doesn't come to work one more time because of her _lazy sickness_ and she will lose her job. And girl…you will have NOTHING to eat. You think about that."

A tear fell down Haley's face. She turned around so the man wouldn't see it…_the cruel evil man_. She didn't like him. He was so mean, but she knew not what else she could do. She had come to make a deal to help her Mama and instead had threatened her Mama's job. She made a horrible thing happen…not a good one. She could only remedy it in one way. _"I'll work for you sir. I'll do as you ask."_

"Fine. You start today. Follow me. Pull up those sleeves. And you pay attention. You work too slow, I will find someone else to do your job. You hear?"

Haley's fingers shook, her hands clasped tightly. _It would start now._ She would help her Mama…

As she walked with the man…entered that place that scared her when she had just been a little girl…she knew it.

_She was no little girl anymore._

She held her locket close against her heart. _"Papa keep me strong…"_ She whispered. _"Please keep me strong…"_

"I hear sir."

I***~***I

_"You're good at that."_

Nathan turned to the girl. She was the _newest_ girl at school. Her name was _Brooke Davis_. She had come from the north, lived in New York City actually before moving to the south. She was pretty, dressed more richly than any girl he'd ever seen, and she smiled a lot. At least he noticed her smiling a lot at him. It got kind of…irritating. "Thanks."

Brooke smiled more.

Nathan sighed and picked up the soft leather ball, throwing it in the air and catching it. School was back in, started a few weeks ago. It was the year of his thirteenth birthday. He'd just turned it a few months ago. His parents had thrown him a big party, inviting his friends over and all. His parents gave him a new saddle for Red and lots of new clothes too, and even some money to spend at the general store. He'd bought himself a new ball and got some new shiny horseshoes, including one to hang on his door for luck, from the local blacksmith, Keith Lawson.

"Maybe you can teach me."

He felt the girl actually touch his arm. He grimaced before turning to her. "Yeah…maybe sometime."

He moved away now, going to stand at the edge of the tall hill from where his school stood. His school had two rooms of classes and a room to have lunch too and play activities. The rooms for classes were divided by age groups. The older kids attended class in one room, the younger in the other room. This year was his second year in the room for the older kids. It wasn't too much different now being older. He still for the most part considered school a bore.

He looked down at the valley now, further onto the factories and mills. The buildings were all pretty similar, though the one his father owned, seemed the biggest. He smiled. Soon he would be working there all day. For now, he went to school for four months, and worked with his dad in the other months mostly for about a few hours a day. Soon though, he'd be working more hours. He didn't mind. He didn't like being lazy and most importantly, he'd be working with his father.

He loved his father, rarely saw any reason to not agree with him, to see wrong in him, except that day.

That day…

I*~*I _"I'm not dirty!" _I*~*I

He remembered now _her words, her face_. It was the last time, that day when she splinted his arm, he really _talked_ to her. Sometimes he saw her now, going to school, or whatever she did. He would see her mostly when he was with his friends. They'd taunt her and he'd join in. He didn't know why. It was just the thing to do he supposed. She acted all haughty anyway. Those times he would see her, she'd just stick her nose up and not say anything to him. It just made him angrier, _peasant girl_…ha ha.

Once though, he'd seen her without his friends. And he'd tried…

Tried…

I~*~I_ "Hey…" __He watched her look up from carrying a basket of eggs. He noticed her walk over a bump in the road, her balance failing right away. _

_"Whoa!" _

_He ran to catch the basket before it could go falling over. _

_Then he smiled. "Well, I guess you owe me a thank you now, huh?" _

_She only turned up her nose at his smirk and went along her way, basket back in hand. _

_It made him angry. _

_He reached out for her arm, stopping her. "Why are you so unfriendly? I was helping you out." _

_She frowned at that. "You tease me when you're with your friends. You're nice one time, when they're not here, and you expect me to be nice because you are. You are such a silly boy. You and your, aren't you going to say thank you? Don't you know, didn't your rich Mama and Papa teach you it's not good to do that? It's not polite. You don't expect things from people. You give acts of kindness…like gifts. You're kind for that person…not for yourself. But if you must…if you insist…fine…thank you. Now leave me alone." _

_"Peasant Girl." _

_She turned around at that, walking up to him, and looking upward as he still was much taller than her, even with her bits of growth. "Maybe I am that, but I don't have to be hurtful to feel good about myself. I don't have to have money." _

_She looked away after that, turned to leave, and he reached for her arm again. He hadn't understood it, but this girl, the way she talked, it was of almost an adult. She made him feel…in a way so new to him. _

_He started to say something…to make up for what he did, tried to anyway, but wasn't sure really what to say. He didn't want to apologize. He never felt comfortable doing that. It made him feel like he was bad or something…besides, his father never apologized for nothing. He didn't need to either. _

_"Look…" __He hesitated and then… _

_"Oh forget it. I was nice, but you can't appreciate it so…so…oh I don't care." _

_He had left it at that, feeling weird and frustrated. He walked away, the first one this time, more than happy to get away from her big brown eyes. _

_Those eyes…so big… __So… _I*~*I

He drifted away from his memory now as a loud ringing sound interrupted his thoughts. He heard the bell being rung by the teacher, then felt Brooke holding onto his arm once more as he looked downward again…beyond the school.

"Come on Nathan. Time to go back to class."

He sighed, getting ready to go in and then _saw it_…saw something that made him stop and stand straighter, made his blue eyes focus sharply.

_"Nathan…come on."_

He turned back to Brooke now…before he started down the hill, away from the school, quickly. He departed, going away from the ringing bell sound.

"Nathan, _what are you doing?_" He heard Brooke coming behind him now, calling out.

"Go back to class Brooke."

"But the teacher will be looking for you!"

"I don't care." He didn't, not really. He'd find a way to get out of whatever trouble he might get in. Besides, he needed to find out what _this was…about_. He wanted to know what was going on.

He kept running down the hillside, ignoring Brooke's pleas to come back. He ran through the dirt, behind some of the taller grasses, and came to an area of a street of tall buildings. Scrutinizing the area, he came to the back of one, walking slowly.

I***~***I

Haley walked out the door now, breathing in and out the fresh air. It was a mostly overcast day, but she didn't care. It was still so much more pretty here outside. It smelled better. It didn't feel so much like she was in a tiny little box that she couldn't get out of.

She looked around now, before putting down the bucket she was carrying. She was supposed to put what she had in it, the multitude of pieces, in a large bin, but it wouldn't hurt to take a short rest. _She deserved that much, didn't she?_

She turned to look at the dark building, cringing. She wasn't as scared now as she had been that day long ago, but she still didn't like the mill.

She felt bad about her secret. Her Mama would think she was at school. She didn't like lying to her Mama, but she was so sick now. It would be good if she worked at the factory for her a few days. Then her Mama could rest.

The work was how she had thought it would be, hard. She recalled now her first moments of work. She'd met a girl with bright red curls, named _Patty_. The girl had been nice, showed her how to use the machine…

I*~*I_ "Patty…show this girl how to use the machine. Girl…" _

_"Haley sir. My name is Haley." __"_

_Show her Patty." _

_The girl, Patty, looked at her questioningly. _

_Haley felt her body shaking as she took it all in, how many machines there were…how scary they all looked. _

_"Don't be scared." Patty spoke to her sweetly as if she could figure out the kinds of thoughts Haley was having. "It won't be all bad. It not good either, but you'll get used to it. Just keep your sleeves rolled up always. Don't want to get caught in anything. A girl got hurt a few days ago…got caught in the machine…made her arm bleed." _

_Haley gasped. _

_"Oh sorry…shouldn't told you that. Now see…you place your hands like this…and you want to twist here…" _

_"Thank you for showing me." Haley smiled as bravely as she could at Patty. _

_"Sure…now- _

_"NO MORE TALKING! GET TO WORK PATTY!" _

_Haley turned around at the booming voice. She was met with the angry eyes of a man, so many men in charge, most not looking kindly at all. _

_She turned away quickly and whispered to her new friend. "Can't we talk at all Patty?" _

_Patty shook her head. "No…not unless it be about work. You think you can learn by what I show you?" _

_"Yes…I think so." _I*~*I

She had learned it pretty quickly. It was tedious work, but also could be dangerous. Patty was right, it was important to remember to keep her sleeves rolled. Letting them fall could be very hazardous. It could cause a hurt arm, like what had happened to that girl. It had surprised her how many children were there in the factory, some even younger than her.

Sure, she knew a lot of kids worked in the factories and mills, but she thought it was only a few maybe in each. Here in this mill there were women yes, but also children, lots of them. They worked all day, and from Patty's in between whisperings when the men weren't looking, Haley had found out, some even worked way late in the night hours.

Those men who watched over everything, and that Manager man hadn't taken her to the part where the women were working. She was glad for that. She didn't want her Mama to know she hadn't gone to school for the day, so she wanted to avoid any women her Mama might know. If one of them saw her, they would tell her Mama about her working there and she'd be in trouble, but most importantly, her Mama might stop her working and then she wouldn't be able to help her. For that reason she was glad she worked in a part of the factory far off away from those women. They would never hear of or see her.

Haley looked up at the cloudy sky, down at the bucket that still needed to be emptied before she returned to the drudgery and darkness of the mill. Slowly she got up now, picking up the bucket.

_"What are you doing?"_

The voice startled her. Haley dropped the bucket she was holding. She gasped as it fell to the ground. All the cotton pieces scattered, a big mess. Not even bothering to look up, she apologized immediately. She didn't want to see the man's face, whichever had come out and found her taking a break. "I'm sorry! I'm so sorry sir!"

_"Haley!"_ Nathan ran to her now and grabbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

Haley looked up and wondered how she hadn't figured it out right away. _This was no man from the mill._ This was that boy who took her locket, who expected thank you's all the time, like he just couldn't find enough quiet pleasure in just doing something kind for someone. He needed to _hear_ from the person about his kindness. So insecure was he. She focused for a second on his face, then on the beginning broadness of his shoulders. Maybe that was why she hadn't realized it was just a boy speaking to her. Nathan was starting to grow more, his voice a little deeper…maybe. He was still that selfish boy though, grabbing her arm and she had work to do!

She pulled back urgently now, her face angry and determined. "LET GO MY ARM…let me go! Leave me and let me pick this up…go away!"

Her locket fell to the ground at that moment, the clasp once again breaking. She watched it fall and right then and there felt the pain enter her heart of having Papa's locket away from it. It was so much…_too much_. She looked down at the fallen locket, the scattered pieces of her new work, back at that dismal gray building, thought of the touch of Mama's feverish forehead, and her head fell down. Her hand sheltered her face. She didn't want _him_ to witness her weakness. She didn't want to be teased right now. She couldn't take it.

_Haunted eyes…_

He wanted to break away from them, but couldn't. Not when it happened, her locket fell. Not when he saw her clutch her heart, probably not even intentionally. After hiding her face from him. His hand lessened on her arm. It reached down now for the fallen locket, holding it carefully in its grip. _Why did he have this feeling if it broke anymore it would break her heart? Why did the thought of that make him shudder?_

He turned to her, seeing her face still hidden from him. He pondered over her features for a moment. She was a bit bigger, just a bit though. She still was such a small, tiny thing. Way too tiny to be carrying a bucket as big as the one she'd been carrying.

He had stood there for a long moment, watching her pick it up, her arms straining, her back bending more than it should be. _It was too heavy for her._ Too much. He looked over her dress now. It normally was clean, but now it had smudges, her face too. He had a feeling the work she'd been doing today…had made it dirty. _The work…work…what was she doing here?_ Shouldn't she be at school? She was too tiny a thing to be working in this mill…not when she should be at school anyway. And heck, if she couldn't be at school, if she was one of those who didn't go, then maybe working on the farm or helping with chores at home…but here…she was too small for this.

He spoke to her now in a whisper, _It's all right. "It's not broken Haley…" _

_He thought about that. It wasn't totally true. Her locket was broken, just it hadn't gotten anymore broken in the fall. "Anymore than it already was anyway."_

Haley heard his voice. It was gentle and yet sort of grown up now. All the grown up voices she had heard for the past hours had been harsh and mean. But his voice now was quietly kind. She opened her eyes, seeing the locket in his hand. He was holding it out to her, a small smile curving his lips, brightening his eyes. She smiled back now too, taking it from him. "Thank you."

He laughed slightly, a bit nervously. It was something new to him, to be unsure of himself. It wasn't totally unsettling though, just…new. _"I guess that's the right way to give a kindness."_

_He remembered her words._ That surprised her, but also strangely delighted her. She laughed now too, quietly, before she looked back at the mess she'd made. Turning away from him she started to pick all the pieces up.

Nathan reached for her arm again now, stopping her.

Haley protested, determined once again to pick up the mess. She looked fearfully at the door. One of those men could come out here any minute. They would be angry with her. She turned to Nathan, her expression hard and at the same time needing. "Nathan, let go my arm!"

The quiet moment between them was over now. He wanted to know what she was doing carrying this bucket. She was too small for it. She was too young to be working here all day. "Haley _tell me_, what are you doing here?"

Haley practically hissed now. _"Nathan! Let me go! You'll get me in trouble!"_

Nathan was unrelenting. Though he didn't hold her arm hurtfully, he did keep it in his grip, restricting her from moving. He saw how alive and strong her eyes were now, angry almost. He saw how the locket was clenched in her grip. He wanted to know what this was about. That was why he had left school for the day, ran down that hill. He had been looking over the area of the factories and mills, saw a head of _cinnamon_ hair and immediately knew it was her, the image of her so small...carrying a bucket much too large. _Too heavy._ She should not be here.

He spoke almost fiercely now, confused and frustrated. "Tell me what you're doing! Don't you go to school?"

Haley only strained harder. She strained so hard that her arm scraped against his hand. She winced at the bit of pain.

Nathan let go. He watched the minute he did, she start to desperately pick up all that had fallen. "Haley, what's going on? Why are you here? Why aren't you at school?" Some kids sometimes worked a few hours at the factories and mills, but from the first he'd seen Haley as smart. Even a young thing she had been quick to think, quick enough to even trip him when he had been least prepared. She had to go to school.

And he couldn't stop thinking it, Haley was too small to be carrying this bucket, too fragile to be working here. He thought of her parents…heck. _Were they such lazy people they made their daughter work for them?_ He'd heard that, how some families had the kids out there doing the work. He hated those kinds of parents. He thought they were the _most despicable_ there was. So damn lazy…they couldn't do the work themselves. _Heck, they deserved to be poor!_ They better not be doing that to Haley. He didn't know why…but it made him so angry to think her parents would do that to her. His voice held an edge to it now.

_"Haley, tell me, why are you here?"_

Haley paid him no mind, just kept picking up all the pieces, now that he had let go of her arm. Her small fingers scrambled to gather every single piece. She fretted as she looked around. They were everywhere…_they had scattered everywhere_.

"Why are you here?"

The sound of his voice asking that same stupid question made her angry. _What was she doing here?_…couldn't this silly boy see? _She was working!_ "Leave me be Nathan! Just go away! You've done enough!"

_"WHY ARE YOU HERE?"_

_"OHHHH…I work here!"_

He raged at that. "What about your parents, don't they work?" He sneered now, so furious that her parents would allow her to work so hard, straining, while they selfishly laid around _"Are they so lazy that they can't-_

The moment those words started to come out of his mouth, she dropped the pieces of cotton material she had been picking up. Her arms came out and she sprung at him like an angry cat. Her face reddened with rage and pain all mixed in together. Her voice turned to a screaming one, like a wild banshee. "MY PAPA IS IN HEAVEN! MY MAMA IS SICK! DON'T YOU CALL THEM LAZY! DON'T YOU-

She hit him, hit him so hard she caused him to fall backward. She pummeled at him, before her voice just broke.

Nathan startled as he felt her suddenly on top of him. Her fists were flying and she was just screaming and screaming. His eyes widened, he reached out to grab her hands and then felt it all end, all just come to a complete stop without warning. The anger drained out of her body like a rag having the water soaked out of it. It departed her so fast that it shocked him as her hands fell now, feeble, their strength completely gone. He watched her face sag, her one hand grip her locket again. She had dropped it once more, in her attack on him. Frowning, he started to speak. _"Haley, I'm-_

"GIRL…WHAT ARE YOU DOING?"

Nathan's eyes widened once more at the booming voice. He noticed a man that his father knew. He'd come to the factory a few times. His father visited here sometimes. They compared business dealings. That man had looked somewhat friendly then, though Nathan had never really liked him. Now the man was just _ugly looking_…totally ugly and vicious as he grabbed at Haley's arm, forcing her up on her feet. He watched the motion make her small body swing like that of a rag doll. He watched the fear make her face go white, watched her flinch at the tight grip around her arm, dragging her upward.

_"LET GO HER ARM!"_

The manager gasped as he saw now who this girl had been attacking. _Daniel Scott's son?_ This little brat had the nerve to go after Daniel Scott's son. Little troublemaker, she'd make his dealings with this boy's father go all bad. He hadn't even bothered to hear Nathan's strong order to let go of Haley's arm. He cared now only about appeasing the boy, thinking he would want him to punish his attacker. "Oh Master Scott, I'm so sorry. Are you all right son?" He turned to Haley, grabbing her arm even more roughly. _"AND YOU-_

Haley's face blanched whiter, her eyes big. She trembled at the man's ugly face and vicious grip.

"LET HER GO!" Feeling a strength fill him, fueled by his anger, Nathan cut down the manager's hand from Haley's arm, releasing her. He didn't even stop to think about how big the guy was. He just wanted to get her away from him.

Looking at her though, there was no gratitude on Haley's face. Instead it was pleading. He heard her whisper low under her breath, heard her beg him. It startled him. He wasn't used to this from her. _"Please…just don't interfere…Nathan…"_

Nathan let go of her arm and faced the manager. He swallowed. "No she didn't hurt my arm, and you shouldn't grab her." He sneered. _"She's all dirty, might have soiled up your hands."_

The manager smiled at that comment. "That she is! Her damn lazy mother wouldn't even come to work today! Says she's sick so she can't come…so this little brat came to work for me instead."

Nathan looked sidelong at Haley. Her face was a little less white, but her hands were clenched. The comment about her…_her Mama_…she had wanted to hit the manager for that. Nathan could tell by her face, but the girl held her tongue. He felt awful right now. That ugly manager could have hurt her, pulling her arm like that. He wanted to shout at him, push him to the ground.

It was Haley who stopped him though, her desperate plea. After he had made her upset by calling her parents lazy. And then she tells him her father is dead, her mother sick. The only thing he could think of doing now was…getting this guy away so he could talk to her, find out more from her. If he could help, right now well…

_He wanted to._

Haley listened to that comment about her being dirty from Nathan, not knowing if he meant it or not. She didn't know why it bothered her, if he did mean it. It should bother her none. This boy and how he felt about her was not important. She turned up to the man who was now her…_her boss_. She wanted to yell at him for what he had said about her mother. She didn't like him even more for those ugly words. She kept silent her anger though, instead painfully apologizing. _"I'm sorry sir. I didn't mean to drop all this. I'll pick it up. I'll get back to work right away."_

Nathan watched the way Haley talked to the man and frowned. He felt helpless in finding any real defense for her. His parents had completely put her down even. His father had nothing good to say of her.

"You apologize to Master Scott now too. You do it now girl if you want a job."

Nathan looked to Haley's face now after hearing that. He knew why the ugly bastard called him _Master Scott_. He was a boy, a boy of an influential father. Then he should be called _Master Scott_…but to hear it directed to Haley that way. It was a command, an unfair command that was not in any way right. _He should be the one apologizing._ He upset her, talking about her parents so flippantly. _And this cretin should apologize._ He hurt her arm. All of this was wrong.

_"She doesn't have to."_

Haley shook her head at Nathan, giving him a pleading look.

Nathan grimaced tighter, his eyes hard. He didn't want Haley to apologize. She shouldn't have to. Seeing the tenseness in her stance though, the worry in her eyes, the shaking of her hands, he amended his earlier words. "I mean…I really don't want her to because I don't want to hear nothing out of her dirty mouth no more…but fine…_apologize PEASANT GIRL_."

Haley's eyes widened, but she didn't protest. She didn't know why it made her feel so tired and rejected that Nathan might really mean it. _She didn't want him to mean it._ She stumbled a little, taking a step forward that she could barely control.

Nathan watched her, wanting to reach out and help her. _He hated this._ He wanted to punch the cold hearted bastard manager for wanting to hurt her so, wanting to humiliate her.

"I'm sorry Nathan."

"SAY you're sorry MASTER SCOTT, girl! You have no right to be so familiar with him!"

_She has more right than you!_ Nathan's fists clenched. He wished he could force this cretin to say _HE WAS SORRY_

"I-I'm sorry Mas-

_Darn Haley…I'm sorry._

"...Master Scott…"

Haley lowered her head even more after she was done.

"Now finish your work!"

Haley picked up the heavy bucket, stumbling a bit, but then righting herself quickly.

Nathan watched how much further Haley's face came down after she was done with the apology. Afterwards, her posture just bent as she picked up that heavy bucket, her face one of a girl tired and defeated. He swallowed hard. He wanted to say something so badly, but she seemed to want him to stay mum about it. He hated that she had been told to call him Master Scott. He understood it had to do with that it was a term for a boy, a wealthy boy like him, but at the same time it reminded him of the terms used by slaves to their…their masters. And that made him feel sick.

He turned to the man that his father knew…a man he didn't like now at all. But he continued his pretense. He looked at Haley cruelly before turning to the man again. _"I'll make sure she picks it ALL up."_

The man smiled. "Good. Tell your father he can come back…visit anytime."

Nathan smirked. _"Yes sir."_

Nathan waited til the man left, then reached out to help Haley, but she already was heading to the large bin across the way.

Haley headed to the bin now, her face fallen, dejected. She felt almost positive now Nathan was siding completely with the manager. Well that was fine. She didn't need him to side with her anyway. She kept telling herself this as suddenly she felt the bucket lifted out of her hands. "Wha-

_"I'm sorry."_

Haley turned to look upward, seeing Nathan's face looking down at her, apology in his eyes, sincere and true. She denied the excitement inside her, not acknowledging that she was so happy to hear him not being mean to her. "It's my work. Give me the bucket. Please…"

Nathan grimaced, not letting her take back the bucket, holding it away from her instead. "I got it." He searched her half astonished face. Earlier he had been thinking since his father never apologized, why should he? But he couldn't help feeling he owed her. He couldn't help the unanswered for feeling that just told him he had to show his sorrow for what she had just been put through. He started to reach for her hand, swearing tightly at the marking of a beginning light bruise on her wrist. Bastard. "_You know I didn't mean it, right?_ I only said it because you seemed to want me not to cause you more problems."

Haley pulled back her hand from him now, feeling Nathan gently let it go. He didn't strain to hold on. He quietly and kindly let go. She stared at him for a moment. His eyes were gentle now too, like his hand. He looked so sorrowful. She reached for the bucket again, anyway though, just to watch him pull it backward more. She closed her eyes. "_Nathan please_…let me be. I need to do this work."

"I'll take it for you."

"Nathan!"

_"I SAID I'LL TAKE IT HALEY."_

"Nathan if he comes back out-

He cut her off quietly as he walked with her to the bin. "_It's okay._ He won't. He thinks I'll watch you. _Don't worry._ Even if he does come back out, I'll make something up."

She shook her head, thinking something that made her feel sick.

"So now I _owe_ you?"

He flinched at that question, speaking quietly afterwards. "You owe me _nothing_ Haley. I am sorry…about your mother and father. You said your…_papa_…died?"

Haley turned away, her eyes far off somewhere, haunted. _"He went to Heaven."_

Nathan nodded his head, speaking again as they reached the bin. It reached up high, way too high for Haley, having to carry such a heavy bucket first of all, and then having to empty it. Crazy people here to think she could do this kind of work. _"And your mother…she's sick?"_

"She gets fever sometime. She's not lazy. The mill work is hard. She works long hours. It's why I cook supper lots now. I do my best to help Mama as much as I can."

He heard her defensive voice and immediately felt even worse for all his earlier teasing and everything. He reached for the bin now, tumbling the bucket over it. He watched Haley run back over to where they had been standing before, crouching over the dirt.

"Haley…what are you doing?"

"I dropped a lot when you startled me. I need to pick the rest of them up."

He sighed, feeling almost as drained now as she appeared. She belonged somewhere better than here than, doing this kind of unfair work for a girl as young as she, only a few years younger than he. He moved back to Haley now, getting down on the ground too. _"I'll help you."_

She said nothing.

He gathered a bunch of pieces and from a bit far away threw them in the bucket, laughing as they landed inside it. "Yes…not bad."

Haley said nothing, focused on her work. She stopped for a moment though, reaching for the locket she held in her hand now. She started to put it back around her neck, but couldn't get the clasp to close.

"Here…I'll do it."

Haley shook her head. _"No."_ She struggled once more, finally getting the locket back on. Sighing, she started to pick up the fallen pieces of the mill work. She crawled on the ground to get a few pieces that had scattered far.

"I'm sorry…about your…your Papa…your Mama being sick. _Can no one help you Haley?_"

She looked up at him, seeing his face questioning. She wanted to just tell him to leave, but she also was grateful for his help. She couldn't deny that. "Nathan I…"

He watched her struggling face. "Yeah?"

_"I'm just…I'm not dirty."_

He said nothing, just reached out and adjusted her locket. It had turned to its backside. He faced it to the front now, shook his head, but said nothing still. That nod of his head, and the facing her locket back to the front was enough. It was to tell her…_he didn't think her dirty…not at all_.

Haley smiled quietly and then spoke with a bit of confidence, wanting to help him see something. "Don't you know what happens in places like this, Nathan? Don't you know that women work in them, sometimes men, but also children? There are people not as rich as you Nathan…and they're not lazy."

"Perhaps not, but they're dirty…like you. _Dirty Girl_."

Haley turned around at the voice, seeing Nathan doing the same too.

Nathan swore under his breath.

"_Darn Brooke!_ Why did you follow me?"

Haley focused on the girl now. She was wearing a blue dress with lace, shiny white shoes, and white stockings. She stared at all her richness before she looked up at the girl's face. It was very pretty, yes, but her expression was mean right now. It gave the girl an ugliness.

Nathan was angry. _Why had she gone and followed him?_

Haley looked at the girl one more time, before she bent down to pick up more pieces. She stopped though as suddenly that girl in the lacy dress walked over, her white heeled shoes hitting the ground with a clopping sound. The girl gave her a false smile before she took a bunch of the pieces Haley and Nathan had gathered, out of the bucket, and dropped them down on the ground.

Noticing what Brooke was doing, Nathan reacted angrily. "Brooke, stop!"

Brooke smiled flippantly. "Oh Nathan…it doesn't matter." Then she turned to Haley, reaching in a pocket in her dress for something. She brought it out and graciously handed it to Haley, with a cold smile. _"Here Dirty Girl…so you can clean your face…or at least try."_

Haley pushed the handkerchief back at the _ugly girl_, ugly for her being ugly inside. She pushed it hard so it hit the girl's face. "_Use it for your own._ Might just be a little hard to wipe all that ugly meanness away."

Nathan chuckled inwardly, before he noticed the anger on Brooke's face. _Oh no, this could be bad._ He saw Haley's tired expression and knew she didn't need any more trouble for the day.

"Dirty girl…have no manners!

Nathan got up after that, advancing on Brooke quickly. _He wasn't going to cause Haley any more problems._

"Must have been raised in a pig sty-

Brooke stopped as Nathan suddenly latched onto her arm, holding it with his so their arms were linked.

"Come on Brooke. You followed me and now you're going to be in trouble too. We should just go back to school. _Come on._" He saw that she didn't want to let Haley's actions and comments go, but he could also tell she was happy about him linking arms with her. He felt her reach for his upper arm with her hand to hold it even closer. It made him roll his eyes as he looked away from her, but he said nothing. Turning back to Haley, he watched her for a moment before he felt Brooke start pulling him along with her. Sighing, he followed.

Haley watched them start to leave and then realized how long she'd been outside. She panicked. _"Nathan!"_ She called out.

Nathan turned back quickly. "Yes?"

Haley didn't want to need his help, _but she did need it._ He had good relations with the manager it seemed…

_"What is it?"_

Haley looked at Brooke, seeing that she was waiting impatiently, a cold smile still on her face. "It's…oh…nothing."

Nathan searched Haley's face for a moment, before he spoke. "I'll tell him you picked it all up. He depends on my father for helping him with his business. He'll listen to me. _Don't worry._ You won't lose your job."

_"Nathan!"_

Nathan rolled his eyes at Brooke's insistence to leave, but all the same, started to go with her.

Haley quietly whispered, _"Thank you."_

So quiet Brooke couldn't hear it.

But Nathan did. It made him smile…just a little.

_It made what would come…grow..._

I***~***I

More to come…

I***~***I

So this part had one of the big issues of this story, child labor. It too will deal with slavery and the after effects of the war, because you can't write about the south during this time and not deal with that. But the big part of this story is child labor, the forming of unions, the fight against unions, and the lack of labor laws.

It was typical during this time for very poor families to have the children working, the parents, all of them in the mills and factories. School was not seen as important as it is today. It was not until 1943 in just North Carolina, that the school year was expanded to nine months. Before that, children only went to school for four months, and many barely attended at all, and this was the semi-norm in other parts of the country too. The south was known for having mill villages where the workers lived and worked. For the mill work, a child like Haley in this story, was especially wanted, because she would have small hands. The north too though had major factories. And many of these mills and factories, in both parts of the country, had, compared to what we expect today, horrible conditions to work in.

Now the manager probably seemed awful, and he isn't written as a very nice person, but he also isn't a very happy person. He lost pretty much everything during the war, which was what happened to many families. The south, even this many years after the war, was still recovering. Think of it like 911 or Pearl Harbor. This scarred the country for years, and especially the south. They tried the tenant farming to replace the plantations, but it mainly was a big failure.

As for NH, when we watched them get married on the show it seemed very young. But during this time, the concept 'teen' and 'dating' hadn't even been invented yet. You went to school sporadically and then you went to work. You were a child for some years and then you were an adult. It was not rare to get married at 16, after some 'courting'. It's interesting to me because it's almost like on the show NH did it the old fashioned way, becoming adults so quick, and yet even with their trials, remember the therapist telling them to have fun and 'be' young, they've gotten through it all.

Also about Haley's mother, she will realize in the next part that Haley is working in the mill and she will allow it. She will warn the manager to treat Haley respectfully. It would seem weird or negligent to us now for a mother to allow their child to work in such a place, but at this time, even though it will not be something Lynette is happy about, many parents or widowed mothers, etc, had no choice but to allow their children to work too. It was the only way to survive really.

_Mara_


End file.
